Ad agencies, clients find matchmaker and marriage counselor.

When City National Bank next month launches a marketing campaign developed by M&C Saatchi Los Angeles, ad agency matchmaker Catherine Bension's job comes full circle.

Bension's Santa Monica-based Select Resources International Inc. consultancy not only helped bank executives determine what they needed in a creative agency, but also helped them find it. They screened semi-finalists who were asked to propose strategies for how to best communicate in a variety of media the changing image of the bank, a subsidiary of Beverly Hills-based City National Corp., as it continues to grow beyond its Southern California base.

City National Executive Vice President Thomas Miller, the bank's marketing manager, had been an ad agency executive himself before coming to the bank five years ago and had plenty of contacts. But he knew that the West Coast advertising industry universe had changed significantly since the recession accelerated agency consolidation and new marketing platforms like the Internet challenged an agency's ability to craft the right campaign in the most effective media.

"We needed someone who had been immersed in this market for the past five years and could guide us," said Miller, who had worked with SRI in the days when he was making pitches to clients "We had come to the point in our relationship with our previous agency where we needed a more sophisticated skill set than they were able to offer us."

On behalf of its clients, SRI assembles a list of advertising agencies and facilitates the account review process. When that business shrank during the recession as companies became more cautious, Bension branched out into vetting public relations agencies for companies, and added client services. The firm has long provided seminars for agency personnel on how to nurture strong client relationships, but last year launched a program to train companies on bow to be a more effective client.

"Companies are busy with building their business, and even in their marketing departments there's no way for them to be on top of all the changes," said Bension, who with partner Russel Wohlwerth in 2002 bought out the firm founded by account and agency management veteran Michael Agate in 1992. Bension had been with SRI since 1997.

SRI's client mix expanded beyond West Coast companies during the recession, but has returned to a more 50-50 mix as the tech industry rebounded. The firm does not release revenues, but Bension said growth in 2005 was the best since before the tech downturn.

Bension believes her firm's distinctive process, which includes extensive client interviews to determine exactly what skills and temperament they need in an agency, has led to repeat clients. One example is Intel Corp., for whom it conducted a global public relations review last year.

Tax-services provider H&R Block Inc., which used SRI in the past to conduct reviews of its Hispanic media and interactive campaigns, a few weeks ago hired the firm to coordinate pitches for an integrated marketing and communications campaign for the 2007 tax season.

SRI competes with several national consulting firms, most notably Boston-based Boston Pile & Co. and Chicago-based Jones Lundin Beals Inc. Its reputation for being efficient and a neutral facilitator elicited positive reviews from creative agencies surveyed by the trade publication Adweek.

"When you work though a consultant, at least you know that there's already significant interest, it becomes less risky," said Huw Griffith, chief executive of M&C Saatchi's two-year-old Los Angeles practice. An SRI review led to his office landing one of its first significant accounts with the San Diego Zoo.

Once an advertising contract is signed, the role of Bension's firm shifts from dating agency to couple's counselor, helping agencies and companies to communicate well with each other even when the professionals on each side of the relationship change. In addition, SRI often is called in when a client is still happy with their agency but wants to know if they are compensating them in line with the current market.

The new Select Resources University program, which has drawn non-clients, developed as Bension's staff noticed that companies in certain fast-growing high tech industries were shifting account management responsibilities to executives who come from product development rather than marketing backgrounds.

"World-class clients get world-class results is our message," said Bension, noting that Thousand Oaks-based Amgen Inc. has put several executives though the course as the drug manufacturer has moved from marketing primarily to health care professionals to direct-to-consumer advertising.