A Pearl at 30: The HMC Annual Summit Delivers a Powerful Message

There is something that happens when an organization reaches 30 years. The early urgency that once had to fight for a seat at the table gives way to something steadier, more refined: the quiet confidence of a movement that knows its worth. That was the energy at the 2026 Hispanic Marketing Council Annual Summit, held April 22-23 at Convene Midtown West in New York City. Like a pearl formed layer by layer over time, the HMC has grown stronger, more resilient, and more valuable with each passing year, and 2026’s gathering was proof of that.

The two-day event opened with a 30th Anniversary Celebration bringing together three generations of the industry: the pioneers who built Hispanic marketing, the leaders shaping it today and the next generation ready to carry it forward. The theme, 100%, was not a tagline. It was a challenge. In a landscape full of hedging and half-measures, the Summit declared plainly: when the opportunity is 100%, the commitment must be too.

Culture Is a Leadership Imperative

The morning opened with cafecito and a masterclass. Alexa Bosley, vice president and head of coffee marketing at Nestlé USA, delivered the opening keynote on how Coffee Mate’s “Last of the Non-Cafecito Lovers” campaign broke through by doing what too many brands avoid: starting with genuine cultural truth. But Bosley’s message went well beyond a campaign case study.

Her real argument was structural. Reaching Hispanic consumers authentically, she made clear, is not a marketing or creative challenge. It is a leadership challenge. Organizations of every size must bring their entire teams along, building a genuine appreciation for this consumer group as essential to future growth. A single in-market test is not a strategy. Relevance is compounded over time, built through sustained investment, a willingness to run and refine a series of tests and a long-term commitment to earning trust. Relying on Hispanic Heritage Month campaigns and calling it quits for the year isn’t just insufficient; it actively undermines the goal. The session, moderated by Ronald Méndez of WPP Media, landed as one of the day’s most instructive and well-timed opens.

That leadership-first message found its fullest expression later in the day when Molly Battin, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of The Home Depot, took the stage to accept the 2026 HMC Marketer of the Year award and to explain how her company actually earned it.

What 15 Years of Commitment Looks Like

For The Home Depot, the honor reflects something built deliberately over time. For more than 15 years, the company has invested in the Hispanic space by listening to the community, leaning on consumer insights and building authentic creative through a deep partnership with LERMA/, a Hispanic marketing agency that keeps its storytelling grounded in cultural truth. That partnership shapes casting decisions, sponsorship choices and media strategy, not as a check-the-box exercise, but as the engine behind real ROI.

To connect with younger generations, The Home Depot has made bold moves. The company has sponsored the Mexican National Team since 2003 and recently expanded its commitment by sponsoring FIFA, a deliberate investment in reaching younger Hispanic audiences and professionals. The brand is also expanding its media mix toward social platforms and collaboration with Hispanic creators to build trust through authentic storytelling that resonates where the next generation lives.

The numbers make the case: with multicultural customers projected to represent more than 40% of the home improvement category by 2040, with Hispanics as the fastest-growing segment, The Home Depot’s long-term commitment isn’t philanthropic. It’s smart business. As Battin noted, the companies that understand culture today will be the ones that lead tomorrow. The conversation, moderated by Cara Lewis of TelevisaUnivision, was a clear signal to the room of what full commitment actually looks like in practice.

Shared Sentiments Across Brands and Sectors

Battin and Bosley were not the only leaders to give voice to these sentiments. Across the day, brand marketers from some of the country’s most recognized companies echoed the same conviction. Jessica Santiago Byrd of IKEA, Arlenis Almonte of Chick-fil-A each made the case that treating the Hispanic market as a core growth driver, not a segment add-on, is what separates brands that perform from those that merely participate. Sandra Villarreal of L’Oreal’s Garnier brand reinforced the point through the lens of beauty, describing what a 100% cultural commitment actually produces in creative work, consumer relationships and business results.

In healthcare, David Sanchez of UnitedHealthcare and Monica Padilla of Covered California outlined a practical playbook for culturally fluent, performance-driven marketing grounded in the same principle Bosley opened the day with: trust is not claimed, it is earned over time. Taken together, the through line was unmistakable. Across categories, company sizes and marketing disciplines, the leaders who took the stage at this year’s Summit were in agreement: full commitment to Hispanic consumers is not a values statement. It is a growth strategy.

The Creative Standard Gets Raised

Stephanie Eaddy, cultural marketing lead for The Coca-Cola Company, was one of the Summit’s most present voices, appearing both on the brand panel and as co-president of the Strategic Excellence Awards jury alongside Luis Miguel Messianu of MEL.

In her panel session, Eaddy laid out what excellence in Hispanic marketing looks like in 2026: authenticity, consistency and cultural resonance. For global brands like Coca-Cola, that means starting with universal truths, optimism, joy, family, and then expressing them through culturally specific lenses. When connecting with Hispanic consumers, the brand leans into passions like soccer and family-centered moments, always starting from a genuine understanding of the consumer’s needs and the role the brand plays in their lives. Internally, she described building that mindset as requiring significant stamina, empowering “cultural champions” across a large, matrixed organization to act as an extension of a small, dedicated team and spread cultural intelligence at scale.

As co-president of the jury, Eaddy was equally direct about what separates good work from award-winning work. Strong entries fall short, she explained, for two recurring reasons: they fail to clearly articulate why the brand belongs in the story, or they present compelling creative ideas without demonstrating how the campaign performed as a business driver. The bar is not creativity alone. It is creativity in service of measurable outcomes.

On that measure, this year’s winners set a high bar.

The Work That Rose to the Top

In its 20th year, the HMC Strategic Excellence Awards Powered by Collage Group recognized 14 companies across 22 campaigns. The Grand Prix went to Remezcla Agency for Major League Baseball’s “Baseball Origin Stories,” a campaign recognized across multiple categories for its cultural depth, strategic rigor and media impact. Best in Show went to Casanova//McCann for Nestlé Coffee mate’s “The Non-Cafecito Lover Anti-Influencer Campaign,” the same work that opened the day’s conversation and proved its staying power in front of a jury. Other Gold winners included alma for Coors Light’s “Refresh the Game” and Topo Chico Hard’s “Adios/Hello,” and Casanova//McCann for “Corridos Rescue Corridos,” a cause marketing campaign for LGBTQ homelessness relief.

As part of HMC’s partnership with FIAP (Festival Iberoamericano de Creatividad), the top-winning work will advance to represent U.S. Hispanic marketing excellence on a global stage, a fitting outcome for an industry that has spent 30 years proving it belongs everywhere.

The Layers That Built the Pearl

The Summit also paused to honor the leaders whose shoulders everyone in the room stands on. The HMC Hall of Fame recognized Christina Schwarz, former president and general manager of Telemundo 47 New York, whose four decades in Spanish-language media transformed how an entire market was seen, heard and served. HMC also posthumously recognized Greg Knipp, CEO of Dieste. The award was accepted by Dieste Managing Director, Franco Caballero, who spoke how Knipp’s visionary leadership elevated multicultural marketing and built a community defined by humanity and purpose.

What Comes Next

Thirty years ago, the Hispanic Marketing Council was founded as the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies on a conviction: that this audience mattered, this work mattered and showing up fully was not optional. What has emerged over those decades is something worth celebrating, an organization and an industry formed layer by layer, shaped by clarity of purpose and the steady accumulation of proof.

What this Summit made clear is that the work is not finished. The best layers may still be ahead. The only question is whether you’re committed at 100%.