Let Them Eat Cake

Did you know there are over 2,000 BILLIONAIRES in the world?  That number is shocking!  Especially when you consider how much a billion dollars is.  For a little comparison:

1 million seconds = 12 days

1 billion seconds = 31 years!

Armed with this knowledge, Tulipina Design’s business model and social media presence (or lack thereof) makes a little more sense.

Known for her extravagant, tailor-made and destination-friendly wedding florals, Kia Underwood has made a name for herself among the fashionable elite.  Think cigars and champagne, summer villas in the Mediterranean and fashion week in Paris, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” and you will soon summon her ideal customer.

A private 2-day session would only cost me a couple months’ salary. 

My family has a game we play at get-togethers: Who Wants to be a Big Shot?  We go around the table taking turns sharing comments like, “My husband had dinner with Chuck Norris” or “My son was the lead animator on Klaus.”  The goal is to not make any achievement individually, but to highlight the people you are rubbing shoulders with.  In a similar manner, people aren’t purchasing these workshops to learn the floral methods.  They are attending so they can say they know Kia Underwood and Tulipina Design.

Tulipina creates truly breathtaking, sweeping arrangements that evoke glamour and grandeur.  Any flower-loving drama seeker would do well to know her work.  As a dabbler in floristry myself, I started following Tulipina during the pandemic because she offered a free tutorial on Facebook (it wasn't that great.)  She has since abandoned that platform.

Although followed, liked, and commented upon by many in her field on Instagram, there is little interaction between herself and those who adore her work.

Even the guest of honor doesn’t receive a response from the burgeoning floral artist.

That does not mean she is silent across the board.  She is very purposeful to respond to the brides, families, and other wedding vendors she works closely with on each event.  In other words, if you have a true stake in her name, she will invest effort in replying.

Her audience are not from Cheapside:  those who want to learn how to design with flowers or purchase her services economically.  Rather they are the who’s who in society who spare no expense and she keeps her comments contained to those who meet the bar.  A thread I found on Reddit sums it up well.

Cagey…that is the vibe us lowly commoners would describe it as, but for Tulipina it is just good marketing.  She knows who her audience is and doesn’t waste time on those who will waste hers.

Tulipina isn’t on Instagram to engage and interact with her audience because that isn’t how her audience wants to interact.  They want black-tie cocktail parties where important connections are made discreetly while simultaneously being seen with the right people.  So why is she on Instagram at all?  Because this same set want a show – they want to celebrate their opulence and garner the admiration (fascination?) it stirs.  And we the lowly are more than ready to give it to them.