About HCP.
Forty years of understanding first.
HCP Associates was built on a simple belief: meaningful decisions require meaningful understanding. For four decades, we have helped organizations navigate growth, complexity, public perception, institutional change, leadership challenges, and evolving markets through the integration of research, strategy, marketing, and communications.
Today, HCP operates as a research-driven strategic advisory and communications firm serving government agencies, corporations, nonprofits, institutions, and growth-focused organizations throughout the United States and beyond.
Insight is our craft.
At HCP, research, strategy, and marketing are not separate departments. They are the operating system of the firm.
Before design, there is research.
Before communications, there is strategy.
Before marketing, there is judgment.
We believe organizations succeed when they understand
Our role is not simply to create visibility. Our role is to create clarity.
Because markets do not resist change. They resist confusion.
From communications firm to strategic advisory partner.
Over the last 40 years, HCP has steadily evolved beyond the traditional agency model.
Today, the firm works directly with
CEOsElected officialsPublic-sector leadershipInstitutional partnersNonprofit executivesBoardsEconomic development organizationsTourism leadersGrowth-focused private-sector companiesOur work increasingly involves
Organizational alignmentExecutive communicationsPublic trustStrategic planningCrisis guidanceTechnology adoptionResearch and public opinionCommunity engagementEconomic development strategyLeadership positioningCreative execution remains an important part of HCP’s identity, but it is no longer the definition of the firm. It is the expression of the thinking behind the work.
Executive leadership, actively involved.
Sean A. Coniglio
Managing Partner
Business strategy, organizational alignment, public-sector engagement, institutional relationships, operational strategy, and executive advisory.
Eric R. Polins
Managing Partner
Brand positioning, narrative development, strategic communications, storytelling, crisis communications, film production, and executive messaging.
Robert Allen Jr.
Vice President
Research leadership, strategic facilitation, analytical interpretation, public opinion, economic insight, and organizational intelligence.
The Team · HCP’s team combines expertise across
The firm operates through an integrated model where research, strategy, creative execution, and communications work together to solve complex organizational challenges.
Unlike many firms, leadership at HCP remains actively involved in both strategy and execution.
Decisions at HCP are not delegated. They are guided by experience, collaboration, and accountability.
Four decades of insight that endures.
For four decades, HCP Associates has evolved alongside changing markets, technologies, industries, and institutions while remaining grounded in one enduring principle:
Nothing meaningful happens without understanding first.
What began as a research-driven consulting firm has evolved into a strategic advisory and communications organization helping public and private-sector leaders navigate complexity, growth, public perception, and organizational change.
The Foundation
HCP’s roots begin with Hill & Associates, founded by R. Patrick Hill, a former Procter & Gamble marketing executive who returned to Tampa after leading national and global brand initiatives across multiple industries.
From the beginning, the firm was built differently. Research, positioning, strategic planning, and organizational understanding came before communications execution. Long before “strategy” became an industry buzzword, the foundation of the firm was already centered around insight, human behavior, and informed decision-making.
Growth & Institutional Perspective
As Florida entered a period of rapid growth and transformation, the firm expanded deeper into tourism, public affairs, economic development, infrastructure communications, and institutional planning.
This period established relationships and experience that would later shape HCP’s long-term involvement with government agencies, redevelopment initiatives, nonprofits, tourism organizations, and public-private partnerships throughout the region.
A New Generation of Communications
As the internet transformed business and communications in the late 1990s, Sean Coniglio and Eric Polins emerged from Tampa’s early interactive and multimedia landscape, helping organizations navigate digital branding, technology communications, web strategy, and emerging media platforms.
What made this period important was not simply the technology itself, but the realization that organizations were struggling to explain increasingly complex ideas in ways people could understand and trust.
That philosophy would later become central to HCP’s evolution.
Research Meets Digital Strategy
The eventual integration of Hill & Associates with Coniglio Polins Interactive combined research-driven strategic consulting with digital communications, branding, storytelling, and emerging technology expertise.
This created the foundation for the modern HCP Associates: a hybrid firm operating across research, strategy, communications, branding, film, digital platforms, and executive advisory.
The philosophy remained simple: Research informs strategy. Strategy guides communications. Communications create momentum.
Beyond the Traditional Agency Model
Over the next two decades, HCP steadily evolved beyond the structure of a traditional marketing communications agency. The firm expanded into government communications, economic development, hospitality and tourism, infrastructure, technology, crisis communications, public engagement, nonprofit advisory, film and storytelling, and institutional branding.
Increasingly, HCP’s role shifted upstream, helping leadership teams navigate alignment, perception, growth, public trust, organizational complexity, and strategic change before communications campaigns were ever developed.
Creative execution remained important, but it became the expression of deeper strategic thinking rather than the starting point itself.
Strategic Advisory for Complex Organizations
Today, HCP operates as a research-driven strategic advisory and communications firm serving government agencies, corporations, nonprofits, institutions, and growth-focused organizations navigating increasingly complex environments.
The firm’s work now spans research, organizational alignment, executive advisory, AI and emerging technology guidance, public trust, crisis leadership, economic development, communications strategy, branding, film production, and institutional storytelling.
Forty years later, the philosophy remains unchanged: Insight endures.
Research. Strategy. Marketing. Not as departments. But as the operating system of the firm.
Recognized across four decades.
Over four decades, HCP and its leadership have received recognition across communications, public relations, research, film production, marketing strategy, and storytelling. The firm’s work has been recognized by:
More importantly, HCP’s success is measured by the long-term relationships, institutional trust, and measurable growth achieved alongside its clients.
Storytelling through motion.
HCP’s production capabilities were never built simply to create content. They were built to help organizations communicate complex ideas clearly, emotionally, and credibly.
HCP leadership has also played active roles within the independent film community, regional production initiatives, and the growth of Florida’s creative economy.
Today, the firm integrates film, digital experiences, branding, and strategic communications into a unified storytelling capability designed for modern audiences.
The firm’s work includes
Documentary-style storytellingExecutive interviewsCinematic brand filmsTourism campaignsPublic affairs communicationsInfrastructure storytellingMotion graphicsVirtual production collaborationDigital media strategySupporting communities beyond communications.
HCP has long believed strong organizations have a responsibility to contribute to the communities they serve.
Over the years, the firm has supported and collaborated with
This work extends beyond marketing. It reflects HCP’s broader commitment to civic engagement, public understanding, economic vitality, and long-term community growth.
Join a firm built around curiosity.
HCP is always interested in thoughtful, creative, strategically minded people who believe insight matters.
Our work spans industries, communities, technologies, and institutions. Every project begins with understanding first.
For individuals seeking meaningful work inside a collaborative and evolving strategic environment, we invite you to connect with us.
We value
Established 1986 · Tampa, Florida
40 Years of Insight That Endures.
Meaningful decisions require meaningful understanding. If your organization is facing change, growth, or complexity, the next step is a conversation.
Or call +1 (813) 318-0565 Ext. 100