ZaneRay Makes Outsides’ 50 Best Places to Work List
This year ZaneRay was selected as one Outside Magazine’s 50 Best Places to Work. We have been given this honor three times in the past, but it did feel a bit more special this year given the type of year that it has been.
This award is especially meaningful to us because it celebrates many of the core values that have shaped our company’s culture from the start. We often refer to ZaneRay as a ‘concept agency’, with the concept being that we do our best work while living our best lives. In contrast to both distributed agencies that can sometimes lack a strong corporate culture and identity, and agencies that often reside in commerce hubs far away from the wilderness—we sought to build an agency for those who desired to do amazing work in an outdoor paradise.
The agency has been carefully crafted over the last twenty years, assembling a team of world-class designers and developers—many of whom desired to leave the confines of urban life to work in a place that supports their love of the outdoors.
We share a deep love of exploring and recreating on our public lands, and what better place to do that than in Northwest Montana? We are the customers of the brands that we work with and we understand the lifestyle because we live it. We are able to leverage our passion for the outdoors and apply that knowledge to design and develop branded ecommerce experiences that connect with their customers in an authentic way.
This approach has led to some of the work-life benefits and perks of working at ZaneRay. We are located in Whitefish, MT with our offices about five miles from Whitefish Mountain Ski Resort and just twenty miles from Glacier National Park. We offer a flexible schedule so that our employees can take advantage of the outdoor activities that are available to us in Northwest Montana. Oftentimes we are doing these activities together with a number of company sponsored outings throughout the year—including river rafting, skiing, and mountain biking.
It goes without saying that it has been a challenging year for all. Outside Magazine’s introduction to ‘The 50 Best Places To Work’ list mentions how much all of our work lives were turned upside down this year—which is true. We definitely put our ‘concept’ to the test this year and with that being said, we found new ways to continue doing the work that we love. As outdoor enthusiasts and creative professionals, we are accustomed to the uncertainty that comes with exploration. We accept the challenges and struggles as an integral part of the journey, knowing that the experiences along the way will eventually lead us to a better place. We collectively worked hard to find new ways to grow and even thrive in a time of so many unknowns. We’d like to thank Outside Magazine for the honor of being selected as one of the best places to work this year. We would also like to thank our team for all of the hard work and dedication in making ZaneRay such a wonderful place to work everyday.