There are certain journalists that can move a market.

Jim Cramer of Mad Money can move a stock 30% overnight by making a strong recommendation as he did last Friday with his recommendation to buy NMT Medical.

Walter Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal can move a tech product like the iPod with a positive review in his weekly column.

But, I have never seen one person move a market like Robert Parker and the 100 point rating system in his wine newsletter The Wine Advocate. Parker can single handily drive a winery’s product to double in price and to out-of-stock in days with a glowing review. He can also make or break the sales of the entire Bordeaux wine region with his views on the quality of a single vintage

I just finished “Emperor of Wine” and while not a hot page-turner it is an excellent look at how one person can drive a market. Here’s a quote for the Publisher’s Weekly review

“Anyone who’s been swayed by the point system when buying

wine—selecting a “93″ over an “86,” for example—can blame

Robert Parker, founder of the newsletter the Wine Advocate

and now considered by many to be the most influential wine

critic ever. McCoy, a wine writer for Bloomberg and Food & Wine,

points out that Parker can ruin a winery simply by stamping a

sub-80 label on its product.”

The learning here for marketers is to try to figure out who moves your market and then work very hard to understand their motivations, their likes and dislikes and then go after them with a concerted campaign to win their favor and their businesses building reviews of your products or services. If your PR firm isn’t doing this for you…. Get a new one.