LIVONIA, Mich., Jan. 6 -- Valassis, the leading company in marketing services and Connective Media(TM), proudly announced today that the company has been recognized by FORTUNE magazine as one of the "100 Best Places to Work for in America" for the sixth consecutive year. This year, Valassis ranked 56th on FORTUNE's annually published list. Valassis has been recognized and ranked by FORTUNE since the magazine began publishing the "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" list in 1997. "Our success as a company is attributable to our people," said Alan F. Schultz, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Valassis. "We did not allow the advertising recession or the economy, which has adversely affected our industry, to adversely affect the long-term investment we make in our employees." FORTUNE considers a number of factors when evaluating companies, such as some of the life-balancing perks offered to Valassis employees, including on- site fitness centers, on-site doctor, hair salon and dry-cleaning services. Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz, best-selling authors of The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America, helped FORTUNE evaluate its 2002 "100 Best" list. FORTUNE works in conjunction with the Great Place to Work Institute and conducts a survey of employees from nominated companies. Two-thirds of a company's score is based on how randomly selected employees responded to the Great Place to Work Trust Index, a survey instrument measuring the quality of workplace culture. The list of "100 Best" companies is chosen from an ever-growing pool of candidates. An initial list of 1,000 was narrowed to 269 companies where employees were surveyed. FORTUNE's "100 Best" list will appear in its January 20, 2003 issue, available on newsstands January 13th. The "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" list will be available at www.fortune.com beginning January 7, 2003.