This piece about wine influencers on Wine Searcher made me chuckle this morning.

Some highlights…

True statement: if every important sommelier and critic in the world has already exalted the merits of riesling to the highest possible level and it still hasn’t made one bit of difference, do we really think self-important narcissists can do any better?

Best line: At best, the role of the influencer is to provide wafer-thin icing on an already baked cake.

It reminds me of the time a “professional” influencer told me he could get me thousands of followers and make my Instagram account “go viral” using funny videos and memes.

“How does that help me?” I asked; “I don’t get paid unless bottles go into carts and those carts move all the way through checkout.”

The best way that I can “go viral” as a retailer is to have a really good product for a really good price. Period.

And I don’t need an influencer for that. I need a product manager to work with me on pricing.

A great deal is indeed like an already baked cake. The hard part has been done. The marketing is just letting people know it’s out there.

-David Driscoll