Mintz & Hoke Snags Former Pagano Client

Webster Bank has awarded Mintz & Hoke a $6-8 million assignment to promote the bank and its recently acquired online mortgage site, Nowlending.com.
The win provides the Avon, Conn., agency with a sizable regional bank and the opportunity to tackle its first ads promoting a dot.com initiative.
Mintz & Hoke won the account without a review after the Waterbury, Conn.-based client split with Pagano Schenck & Kay, which handled the business for two years. Mintz & Hoke was runner-up to Pagano in 1997.
Webster Bank’s agency change stemmed from “philosophical” differences and is unrelated to the Boston shop’s recent sale to New York-based EPB Communications, according to Margaret Steeves, Webster senior vice president of marketing services.
Pagano president Beau Fraser said his agency disagreed with Webster Bank over strategy and creative work, but added that there is still “a lot of affection and respect between the two firms.”