Bench Media takes aim at marketing’s data overload with Bench Lens

Bench Media has launched Bench Lens, a new research and audience intelligence offering for marketers facing fragmented data. The agency says the product is designed to turn customer, category and market information into clearer strategic and media decisions.

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The rollout comes alongside a refreshed Bench Media brand as the independent agency expands beyond its programmatic and digital roots.

Turning more data into clearer decisions

Bench Lens combines tailored primary research through custom consumer panels with syndicated audience data, search and market-demand intelligence. It also draws on competitive advertising analysis and Bench Media’s proprietary cross-channel analytics.

Rather than offering a fixed research package, each project is scoped around the commercial question a client needs answered. Applications include consumer profiling, competitor analysis, creative testing, brand perception studies and pre- and post-campaign research.

For suitable projects, results can begin populating a live dashboard within 48 hours of responses starting to come in.

Ori Gold, co-founder and CEO of Bench Media, said: “Marketers have access to an extraordinary amount of data, but more data doesn’t automatically mean better decisions.”

“In many cases, the challenge has shifted from finding information to working out which information matters. There are more platforms, dashboards, audience signals and measurement tools competing for attention, while marketers are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that their investment is driving growth.

“We want to help marketers understand what the evidence is telling them and, importantly, what they should do differently as a result. Bench Lens is designed to do just that.”

Samuel to lead Bench Lens

Andrea Samuel, strategy lead at Bench Media, will oversee the development and delivery of Bench Lens. She will work across the agency’s planning, media and technology teams.

“Research is only valuable if it changes what you do next,” Samuel said.

“We’ve built Bench Lens to go beyond presenting findings. We interpret what the research means for the brand, the audience and the media strategy, giving marketing teams a practical path forward.”

Bench Lens can operate as a standalone research engagement or feed into the agency’s strategy, planning and measurement work.

Brand refresh follows agency expansion

The launch coincides with a refreshed Bench Media identity and new positioning, “Turning possibility into breakthrough”. The agency says the change reflects its broader remit across strategy, research, integrated planning and buying, measurement and technology.

Gold said the agency’s previous identity no longer reflected the business it had become.

“Bench has changed considerably over the past few years. Our brand was still telling the story of where we came from rather than where the business is today,” he said.

“This is much more than putting a new identity around the same agency. We’ve been deliberately building deeper strategic, research and measurement capability because the problems clients are asking us to solve are becoming more complex.”

The investment follows recent client wins including Hisense, Prospa and Bikes Online. Recent senior hires include Jess Torstensson as client growth director and Samuel as strategy lead.

Bench Lens will sit alongside the agency’s Bench Connect analytics platform. The two offerings are intended to connect upfront audience research with media strategy, execution and measurement.

Gold said the expansion reflected the next stage of Bench Media’s growth.

“The opportunity for independent agencies isn’t to replicate the holding company model on a smaller scale. It’s to be more agile about bringing together the right expertise, technology and intelligence around the problems clients need solved,” he said.