Former Dell Marketing & eCommerce Leader Sam Decker Joins Bazaarvoice

Austin, Texas – January 17, 2006 – Bazaarvoice, a new company aimed at online brands that want to drive greater business impact from word of mouth, today announced Sam Decker will join the company as vice president of marketing & products. Sam previously led the growth of Dell.com, helping it become the world’s largest consumer eCommerce site in 2003.

Decker is a word of mouth marketing expert who brings over 14 years of experience to Bazaarvoice, including authoring one of the first books on customer evangelism for the technology industry titled “How to Market with Computer User Groups”. He also wrote a book on guerilla marketing titled “301 Do-it-Yourself Marketing Ideas.” A frequent speaker at online retailing events and author of a popular marketing blog (http://www.deckermarketing.com/), Decker combines market vision with a practical understanding of how to achieve customer-centricity in today’s business environment.

Decker, a Six Sigma Greenbelt, describes the state of word of mouth in business: “There is a deep gorge between word of mouth impact and the reality of systems, processes, and culture in most companies. In my experience, customer-centricity accelerates when strategy, tools, and analysis that have a frequent, visible, and measurable impact to the business are put in motion. Bazaarvoice is a pioneer in results-oriented word of mouth, and I’m excited to be a part of the next generation in online commerce.”

As vice president of marketing and products at Bazaarvoice, Decker is responsible for leading corporate marketing and product strategy.

Before joining Bazaarvoice, Decker spent seven years in marketing and eBusiness leadership at Dell. From 1999-2003, he led Dell’s consumer web site and developed many best practices in analytics, merchandising, and product management. Sam pioneered Dell’s successful customer segmentation and customer centricity strategy, and later directed marketing for a $1 billion plus installed-based marketing division. Before Dell, Decker spent over six years leading marketing at B2C and B2B startups, including a company that developed word of mouth strategies for Apple Computer, Borland, Adobe, and others. Decker serves as chairman of the board of advisors for the Web Analytics Association, and is on the board of advisors at Austin Texchange.

"Sam will bring his Apple and Dell experience to Bazaarvoice to help clients facilitate online word of mouth marketing. He's a great addition to the Bazaarvoice team,” said Guy Kawasaki, managing director of Garage Technology Ventures and former chief evangelist of Apple.

“Attracting an executive like Sam, who has such a deep understanding of word of mouth, an extensive background in building world class eCommerce sites, and a result-oriented management style will enable Bazaarvoice to extend our word of mouth solutions to the world’s top brands,” said Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice. “We are delighted Sam is part of the Bazaarvoice team.”