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SPLASH DECANT 06/06/19

Faking It

Faking it is a bad plan.

It may sound obvious, but one of the catch phrases I have been hearing a lot lately has been something like “Just fake it and act like you have been there before.” Fake knowing what you are doing until it sticks. Some in the White House believe in this tactic.

This is a bad idea for multiple reasons, but especially true in the wine business. I can tell you with absolute certainty: it won’t lead anywhere sustainable or real.

The Straw Man Effect

Faking it is a road that leads to the straw man effect. The importer or distributor or sales rep or restaurant with a lot of followers but little true engagement.

You have to lie to fake it. You have to bend the truth and invent snazzy and empty stories so that you appear to be real. One prime example is the allocation game…

But a reckoning is coming for those who have used this tactic. If you preach culture or tell stories that hide the ball of actual truth to bolster a cardboard cutout company – pain is coming. As they say on the court: if you trash talk and can’t really play, you are going to get dunked on.

“ The NYC market today has plenty of straw men that are running up against a stark reality called actual reality...

The NYC market today has plenty of straw men that are running up against a stark reality called actual reality. The reality that substance counts. You can only live in the red zone for so long; ultimately you are going to get picked off in a few ways:

Producers will leave.

Customer attention will wane.

Employees will begin to want guarantees because they have lost faith.

The market will slowly turn away and you will wonder why?

Looking around today in the NYC market there are some posers that faked their way to some prominence that are ripe to get beat up a bit- the field is officially wide open for the new players. Importer/Distributors with no core and questionable intentions.

Who will win? The forthright few. The ones who choose intent over chaos.

This is the game. Fake it and you will not make it.