Welcome to the first annual AlwaysOn Media 100. With this fresh list of private companies, we highlight game-changing players in advertising, marketing, and promotion. These ventures aren’t just redefining the way marketers reach audiences; they’re also changing the very nature of the relationship between brands and their consumers.

Today’s marketing executive, or the “new marketer,” exists in a more dynamic universe than ever before. Seminal works like The Cluetrain Manifesto and The Cathedral and the Bazaar showed the way to this new world, where many more voices clamor to be heard. Instead of spouting “key messages,” brands engage in discussions, while spin turns into context, and audiences morph into communities. The AlwaysOn Media 100 offers a roadmap to the innovative tools, services, and venues that new marketers use to engage their targets and grow their businesses.

For the AlwaysOn Media 100 list, hundreds of private companies—spanning numerous sectors, all stages of corporate development, as well as the globe—were nominated. To make the final selection of companies that excel in AlwaysOn’s five primary evaluation criteria—innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value creation, and media attention or “buzz”—the panel drew on industry expertise from KPMG; Bridge Bank; Merrill Corporation; Manatt,Phelps & Philips;
and AlwaysOn editors.

A full analysis of the AO Media 100 Companies and the new marketing landscape will appear in the winter issue of the AO Magazine.

Congratulations to the Winners!

Abazab 
Ad Infuse
Adbrite
Adify
Adknowledge
Admob
Adteractive
Aggregate Knowledge
Big Fish Games
BlackArrow
Blue Lithium
BrandIntel
Brightcove
Buzzlogic
Cellfire
Claria
Clickdensity
ContextWeb
Coremetrics
craigslist
Critical Mention
Cymfony
Datran Media
DAVE Networks
Digg
Double Fusion
Ecast
Enpocket
Eurekster
Eyeblaster
Facebook
FeedBurner
Friendster
GoTV
Greystripe
Guba
IGA Worldwide
iloop Mobile
Ingenio
Jingle Networks
JumpTap
Kontera
Kosmix
Leverage Software
Linden Lab
Loopt
Madhouse
Mania TV
Meevee
MerchantCircle
Mercora
Metacafe
Mobileplay
MobiTV
Mochila
Mozes
Muzility
MyWaves
Nellymoser
Netvibes
NewsMarket, The
Oodle
OpinMind
Oversee.net
PayPerPost
Photobucket
Piczo
Pixsy
Pluck
Pluggd
Podshow
Quigo
Rapt
Reactrix
Retrevo
RevCube
Revver
Right Media
Ruckus
SayNow
SeeSaw Networks
Seevast (Pulse 360)
Skyrider
Smaato
Spot Runner
Tagged
Technorati
Third Screen Media
Tremor Media
Turn Inc.
Umbria
Vibrant Media
Vidavee
Visible World
VoiceIndigo
Webloyalty
WideOrbit
Wildtangent
Yelp
Zango