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But despite or even in light of economic challenges, there are companies that are thriving in their commitments to their employees and to their work. They are workplaces that cultivate camaraderie, reward creativity and spur innovation. They're winning accounts, customers and talent eager to contribute to organizations they believe in.

And those are the Best Places to Work in Marketing & Media. This list, Advertising Age's first, is a celebration of the 30 employers in the marketing, media and advertising industry that have created environments in which people love to work and contribute their best ideas. Identifying and recognizing these employers is a joint effort of Advertising Age and Best Companies Group, a firm that conducts "best places to work" programs across the country.

The Best Places to Work in Marketing & Media program was open to all publicly or privately held advertising agencies, media organizations and companies with marketing operations of more than 25 employees. Each applicant must have had at least 25 employees working in the United States to be eligible.

BCG managed the registration process, conducted a two-part survey process, evaluated data and ultimately chose the companies that were good enough to make the list. The deadline to sign up for the program was April 30.

Part one of the assessment (three-quarters of each company's score) involved a confidential 76-question survey that was used to evaluate the employees' workplace experience and company culture. Part two of the assessment (one-quarter of each company's score) consisted of a questionnaire used to collect information about each company's benefits, policies, practices and other general information. The combined sets of data enabled BCG reviewers to conduct an in-depth analysis of each company's strengths and offerings.

Program participation was free; each organization had the opportunity to purchase a report summarizing the employee data collected through the employee survey process. In addition to the employee-opinion data, the report also included transcribed employee-written comments, as well as the marketing and media industry benchmarking data from the participating and winning companies.

The 30 companies presented here, listed alphabetically -- and we profiled 10 of them -- are indeed innovators, arguably benchmarks against which other employers can measure themselves. These companies simultaneously nurture employees, clients and their communities with things like diversity programs, family-friendly benefits, education reimbursement and workspaces designed to stimulate creativity. There will be names in this list that you are familiar with, and names you've never heard of. They're based in New York, San Francisco and everywhere in between. Some are large, with multiple locations, and others are small, single-office shops. But they all have one thing in common: They're committed to being the top employers in this industry. Thank you, participants, and congratulations to our 30 best places to work.

The list
APPSSAVVY New York
BGT PARTNERS Miami
BIG SPACESHIP Brooklyn, N.Y.
BUTLER/TILL MEDIA SERVICES Rochester, N.Y.
CARMICHAEL LYNCH Minneapolis
CPX INTERACTIVE New York
DROGA5 New York
DUFFEY PETROSKY Farmington Hills, Mich.
EDELMAN New York
EMPOWER MEDIAMARKETING Cincinnati
EPIC MEDIA GROUP New York
FIREHOUSE Dallas
GARRAND Portland, Maine
GO DADDY Scottsdale, Ariz.
GREENRUBINO Seattle
GUERRA DEBERRY COODY San Antonio, Texas
HIEBING Madison, Wis.
LATCHA & ASSOCIATES Farmington Hills, Mich.
MCKINNEY Durham, N.C.
MOSAIC SALES SOLUTIONS Irving, Texas
PARTNERS & NAPIER Rochester, N.Y.
PULSE 360 New York
R&R PARTNERS Las Vegas
RANGE ONLINE MEDIA Fort Worth, Texas
RED DOOR INTERACTIVE San Diego
SICOLAMARTIN Austin, Texas
THE CONCEPT FARM New York
THE RICHARDS GROUP Dallas
UNDERTONE NETWORKS New York
VIBRANT MEDIA San Francisco