The Boca Babe

Tanned, toned and tightened. The Boca Babe is intensely private, deeply spiritual and practices Kabala.

The affluent Boca Babe has lived or worked in Southern Palm Beach County for as long as a quarter of a century; she more than likely migrated from the New York metropolitan area and has since made the Boca Raton area and its high-end businesses her own. She may hold or have held a power position in the business arena, and she serves on numerous boards and committees.

Although the Boca Babe has become known for sparing no expense when it comes to maintaining her tanned, toned, tightened (possibly enhanced) physique; she is actually a deeply spiritual woman with strong family values, who reads voraciously (possibly an e-reader), is tech-savvy, active on Facebook, a blogger and more than likely manages a website of her own.

The recession had her a little worried and she may even have downsized, but she’s proven time and again that she can overcome any crisis.

She may be married, single or recently divorced. She’s active in her synagogue or church, possibly a Kabala Center.

Unlike the SUV loving westcoast Florida Female, the Boca Babe drives a foreign-built luxury car and is loyal to its maker.

She owns a home or maybe two and has children; she works “extra hard” to teach them values and let them know that the “Boca Bubble” does not represent the real world.

Because she is well-educated, well-networked and well-read, her friends seek her counsel when it comes to financial matters. However, when it comes to her own finances, she uses a certified financial planner.

Recently, the Boca Babe has had to deal with a changing culture due to an influx of South Americans and “wanna-be” socialites.

The Boca Babe knows how to be a good friend and she is charitable, often the first to rise to the occasion. She feels blessed that she can afford a different lifestyle than most other females in the state of Florida.

The Cubami Mommy

She’s highly educated, symbolically conservative, but operationally liberal. With high disposable income, she’s the alpha consumer with a capital A.

The Cubami Mommy is defined as the woman whose family migrated from Cuba to the Miami area as a result of the Cuban Revolution of 1959.

Raised by working mothers in Miami, today’s Cubami Mommies of Florida are well educated entrepreneurs and employers who are also wives and mothers.*

Florida’s Cubami Mommies have migrated from Miami northward, and now live throughout the state. Yet they continue to think of themselves as quiescently Cuban, thanks to a childhood education of “cubanidad” (defined as the “essence” of being Cuban).

True to form, Cubami Mommies are bilingual, with 53% speaking both English and Spanish and home and 37% speaking both languages at their place of employment.

With careers, families of their own and aging parents who often live with them, they recreate their cultural heritage wherever they go within the framework of liberal Florida values.

Since the 1990s, polls have been showing that Florida’s Cubans overall are more liberal (with women leaning to the left even more than their male counterparts) on social issues than the Republican Party, but tougher on Communism than many Republicans in Congress.

Florida’s Cubami Mommies respond to marketers who speak to her in her beloved first language. Although she is tough to please, she is also extremely loyal to those who win her trust and who appreciate her values and rich heritage.

*In 1970 Cuban women living in Miami constituted the largest number of working women in the U.S.

The Florida Hater

Among certain Florida women it seems more than acceptable to constantly rate, or even hate, the state in which they live.

The Florida Hater is educated and she values concepts and innovative ideas above all. She also values travel as long as the travel does not involve Florida.

She is restless, not a joiner, cannot stand the “sameness” of the state and will seek out other Florida Haters to “bide” her time with.

If she is not native to Florida, she deeply values the ideals of the state she migrated from. If she is a Florida native, she presents as a reluctant native with a well planned exit strategy. She is likely to be saving for her eventual escape.

The Florida Hater will ink and pierce her body, radically change her hair, but ironically, she publicly disdains all of the nips and tucks of the plastic surgery culture prevalent in Florida. She will shop Etsy or ebay, but not step into a Florida strip mall unless faced with no other choice.

The Frontline Gal

Part social networker and part war bride, she’s the Frontline Gal.

Florida’s Frontline Gal is the first female who can literally join her loved one and other enlisted friends on the front line via Facebook and Twitter.

With three major military bases, the largest of them located in Jacksonville and Panama City, Florida’s Frontline Gals are no stranger to men in uniform and can spot which branch a man belongs to across a dark, smoky bar.

Her life is defined by a sense of urgency inspired by the military and the war effort, as she’s either waiting for deployment or she’s counting the days until her significant other returns from a tour.

She’s part war bride and part Silicon Valley. She’s a throwback to a more innocent time when Americans’ were ruled by the “we” instead of the “me,” yet she is also a member of “generation tech,” making her a valuable influencer online, and a priceless target for advertisers and marketers.

The Frontline Gal speaks military. And she does it online with other Frontline Gals, commiserating with those who understand.

The Go-Go Gal

She’s constantly on the go. And thinks nothing of traveling cross country for a doctor’s appointment.

Florida’s Go-Go Gals are defined by the two activities most central to their consumption habits: packing and unpacking.

Go-Go Gals are constantly “on the go.” They are usually retired and consider two states as home, residing in Florida during the winter months and whichever state they consider their primary home during the summer months. They will sometimes travel between the two to continue long-standing relationships with doctors and service providers or to attend family events, such as a grandchild’s school concert. Often, this distance is cross country.

There is a second type of Go-Go Gal: the native Floridian who travels north via recreational vehicle during the summer months.

When on the road, the GO-GO Gal seeks out the immediacy of WIFI.

For the GO-GO Gal, temporary is good, disposable even better. She looks for “ease of care” in her wardrobe. She is also known to “stock up.”

The HoHo

The Florida’s Head of Her Own Household (HOHO) is the high wage earner of a household. She’s the alpha consumer on steroids as she has “bank.” The HOHO keeps a close eye on her financial power, yet she will never “cheap out” when it comes to creating the perfect environment in which to live, work and play.

Our sources tell us that Florida’s HOHOs are reevaluating their overhead and that includes their mortgages.

Most will openly discuss their personal finances and credit scores, a subject that only recently would have been taboo.

Florida HOHOs are asking their friends, financial advisors (females preferred by most HOHOs) as well as state funded seminars and foreclosure and bankruptcy attorneys for help.

Feeling pressure to put away some extra cash, some of them are entertaining solutions they would never have considered only two years ago.

As Florida’s HOHOs can no longer rely on their homes as a piggybank in tough times, some are considering walking away from the mortgage if banks are not willing to renegotiate mortgage principal or lower their interest rates. Even if it means their carefully built credit is at risk.

Why? Florida’s HOHO women make up a majority of the homeowners who were offered bank loans far beyond the traditional recommended debt to income ratio. Sold the idea that their dream home would offer security and a way to grow their money, they now feel tethered to their flatlined real estate and burdened by the whopping mortgages they struggled with.

Many of these women now feel that saving money is just more important than a high credit score.

They are also longing for luxuries they had forgone after a tough recessionary year, either because of job insecurity or peer pressure.

One Florida woman, newly divorced and the mother of three year-old twins, told us she had recently short sold her home. This Florida HOHO who is a successful hairdresser in Sarasota and could afford to keep her home by continuing to live frugally could see no reason to devote $5,000 of her salary per month to a hefty mortgage and maintenance when her equity balance was upside down and the market was showing no signs of recovery any time soon.

Another Florida woman tells us she is reevaluating her lifestyle as her children reach the age of independence. Not only does she not want to live in her home after they are gone, but she feels as if she cannot rent it for near the price of the mortgage.

Both women expressed the need to simplify their lifestyles and to begin to enjoy luxuries that their frugal mortgage induced lifestyles restricted.

One HOHO told us that she’s got more time to enjoy now that she’s not paying for and cleaning the family pool.
On both of their lists were travel, more time with their children as well as paying off their cars, new clothes and luxuries they had enjoyed before they had purchased their homes.

“I’m not afraid to ruin my credit,” one woman told us. “I can fix it. And I always land on my feet. I’m just glad that I’m done with the house. I’m exhausted and now someone else cleans the pool.”

“I don’t want to walk away from my mortgage, but what choice do I have?” another Tampa woman asked us. “I’m not getting a raise anytime soon and I’m not getting any younger. This isn’t going to end.”

Joan of the Glades

For Florida’s Joan of The Glades, terms like “green” and “sustainable” are nothing new. She chooses upcycling, which can be misconstrued as frugality.

Deeply in love with Florida and its natural wetlands, beaches and marine life, our Joan of the Glades speaks of mother earth and her preservation with a reverence matched only by the most fervent of worshippers.

She sees herself as one who chooses functionality over fashion. She believes in upcycling, which often translates into a misperception of frugality where retail spending is concerned.

She is the most educated of label readers, particularly in the grocery category, and is willing to spend top dollar for brands that are in alignment with her value system.

Although she does not see herself as a consumer, she will spend more time than other Florida Females in the actual shopping process, asking questions and educating herself.

When she settles on the goods and services which meet her criteria, she will pay more.

Tech toys including cameras, video recording devices, satellite radios and cell phones keep her connected and her causes relevant. Waterproofing and weather resistant items also attract her attention.

The Manopauser

Florida’s Manopauser is on “Man Pause.” She may have recently gone through menopause and simply have less interest in the opposite sex or she may be gay, bisexual or just more yang by nature. The Manopauser seeks a defining outlet for her new found independence.

Although she tends toward political liberalism (if she is from the northeast) she will present as even more so. The same is true for the more politically conservative Manopauser from the midwest who is moving toward the right in response to the Sarah Palin phenomenon.

More assertive and less available to the needs of her original family and the social structure surrounding it, she seeks a defining outlet for her newly found independence.

Florida’s Manopauser has an inherent thirst for knowledge and continuing education. She will join special interest and meet-up groups where she can sign up for organized group seminars or tours with like-minded companions.

The Mod Mom

The MOD Mom is post modern, or a changed version of the previous institution of motherhood. She has no problem playing the dual role of mom and dad, acting as both disciplinarian and nurturer.

The MOD Mom not only embraces her motherly imperfections, she celebrates them in the blogosphere.

She doesn’t see herself as kept, and is most often in control of her family’s spending and finances.

MODS are trendsetters, who live life the way they see it and not according to traditional standards or media messages. MODs strive to make motherhood hip, cool, quirky and are quickly redefining what it means to “have kids.”

Their mantra is “Hey, we’re mothers. We want to do what’s right. Even if it seems that we are out on the edge sometimes.”

Recently, due to the the “mancession,” the MOD Mom also includes a growing group of stay-at-home men. Look for marketers to target the MOD Dad in increasingly unconventional ways.

Mom Friend Forever

We define the MFF as the “Mom Friend Forever” or as the best friend a kid could ever have.

And she may just also be the best friend a Facebook marketer could ever have.

Why? Not only is the MFF a mom with a checkbook, but she is a mom who actually expects to be “friended” by her tween, teen or twenty-something.

The MFF is motivated to stay current with technology (as in Facebook) solely in an effort to stay in touch with her beloved youngster. Not only is she willing to learn Facebook and its widgets and “friend” games, but she has a willing coach in her kids.

MFFs are actually becoming immersed in the Facebook world as a result. Often not liking what they see, but unable to turn away.

Who would have thought that moms would become a part of their kids’ social networks as a way to “check in?” And that they would do it with such gusto?

The Obama Momma

We define Florida’s Obama Momma as the original activist and organizer for women’s rights in the state of Florida.

She admires Michelle Obama’s JCrew wardrobe and ascribes to phrases such as “modest is the hottest.” Like her mother and grandmother before her, she cares greatly about appearance. She redefines the term “high maintenance” with her silky hair costing as much as $5,000 dollars per weave.

Sassy, sexy, a bit of a diva, she sees herself as equal to any man or woman no matter what race, religion or creed they may be. She is not color blind, but she is “color aware” and she is dating interracially like never before.

The Obama Momma has strong religious values and relies on family and her community for strength and support. She will fight for the betterment of others as if it is a natural part of her DNA.

It has been said that the black woman’s hair has become political – with her natural hair speaking of a history of slavery.

Although some black women are taking a stand against the chemicals and weave that the Obama Momma employs, The Obama Momma seems satisfied to portray a darker version of Jackie O. And she is ready for the Town N’ Country lifestyle that this look implies.

The Panther

Cougar. Panther. What’s the difference?

The Cougar stereotype has been around since the late 80s, and is said to have actually originated in the dressing room of the Vancouver Canucks. The players called the older single women who came to their games “Cougars,” and the term took off from there.

As we interview Florida women dating younger men who would fall into the Cougar category, more than naught the women say the men were the pursuers, and that they actually had no interest in dating at the time, spending most of their time working and caring for their kids.

We call this woman the Florida Panther.

The less predatory Florida Panthers exhibit surprise and embarrassment when asked about the age difference between themselves and their younger partners.

Interestingly enough, the men who have secured these ladies virtually crow as they retell their version of “the chase.”

“Maybe the older woman is the prey and someone else is the predator,” Katie Couric has stated when asked about her May December relationship with her younger boyfriend, Brooks Perlin.

Because the Florida Panther maintains a fit and youthful sensibility, she is redefining what it means to be a woman in her forties and fifties. And she keeps fit and trim not because she dates a younger man, but because that is who she is.

As the term “age appropriate” loses its meaning, The Florida Panther responds to messaging directed toward her daughter as well as women much older than herself.

The QuarterLifer

She’s having a QUARTERLIFE CRISIS. And the recession isn’t helping.

The Florida Quarterlifer is having a quarter-life crisis as she realizes that she has been working and living on her own as long she has been out of college. Student loans and not being able to resist the things she believes she is entitled to have left her in debt.

With Florida leading the nation in unemployment and Florida’s Quarterlifers leading the nation in layoffs according to The New York Times, the Quarterlifer is weighing her future and her options, and accepting the necessity to either move to a more economically stable state or continue this frugal college lifestyle and pursue a graduate degree.

The Quarterlifer longs for a partner and a soul mate, and the longing takes precedence over the need for a partner as a “provider.” As women outpace men at every level of higher education for the first time in history, our Quarterlifer will likely experience more male “gold digging” and support the first generation of trophy husbands and stay-at-home dads.

As the recession continues, look for Florida’s Quarterlifers to move back in with their parents as one way to reduce expenses and/or return to school and live with other Quarterlifers.

The Rim Retiree

She’s in the second phase of life, and she’s enjoying it on Florida’s Rim.

The Rim Retiree is the most affluent of Florida Females and concerned with longevity and wellness.

If she lives on the west coast of Florida she is probably from the Midwest. If she lives on the east coast of Florida, she is probably from the East Coast.

Unlike the practical, polyester-clad female retiree of yesteryear, The Rim Retiree still feels sexy and is having fun living, shopping and playing on Florida’s coasts.

If she is a part of The Greatest Generation Ever (born before 1949), she has become surrounded by Florida’s celebrity culture and by “generation tech”; she is unavoidably affected by both.

If she is a retired Baby Boomer (1949-1964), she is the original feminist and probably more fashion forward, liberal and politically minded than her daughters. True to her Baby Boomer roots, she rejects and redefines traditional values and does not present as the marketer’s vision of a retiree.

The Rim Retiree Baby Boomer born after 1959 invented the term “conspicuous consumption.” In the UK, she has also been called Generation Jones, or the generation that was concerned with “keeping up with the Joneses.” Because of this, she is more concerned with looking fantastic within her social network than chasing the latest sale or special. She appreciates retailers who design with her body in mind and will spare no expense to look her best.

As Florida’s wealthy Baby Boomer ages, she will continue “Jonseing” for more. Because of this, she will continue working, living and playing on Florida’s Rim and she will reject the concept of retirement and phase the term out completely.

The Vacation Barbies

Florida Vacation Barbies’ Lifestyle Values are a combination of their Northern Working Class Roots and a Childhood Vacation inspired idea of Florida which they continue to perpetuate.

We define The Florida Vacation Barbie as the Boomer Babe (1946-1964) in her late forties and early fifties who made it during the Florida Housing Boom of the late 1980s and 1990s. In the right place at the right time, and in spite of the economic downturn, many Florida Barbies have the disposable income to spend money on appearances. Both for herself and for her daughter/s.

Florida’s Barbies are on perpetual vacation. Often from conservative working class families who settled in middle to northern Florida during the 1970s and 1980s… Their lifestyle values are a combination of their home state and a childhood vacation inspired ideal of Florida, which they continue to perpetuate.

Although Florida Barbies have been named for their tans, sun streaked hair, ample chest measurements and love of “the good life” on Florida’s waterways and beaches, they are usually conservative Republicans.

Florida Barbies may have received their education, grown their businesses and raised their children in the less costly center of the state. When children are still in the nest, The Florida Barbie, driven by the ideal of Florida’s entertainment lifestyle, will focus on a loaded schedule of extra curricular activities, driving her SUV.