Bazaarvoice's Sam Decker Elected to WOMMA Board of Directors

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bazaarvoice, an innovator in helping brands use online word of mouth to build their businesses, today announced that Sam Decker, the company’s vice president of marketing & products, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA). Mr. Decker joins an impressive roster of board members including Ed Keller, CEO of The Keller Fay Group; Scott K. Wilder, Group Manager, Intuit; and Dave Balter of BzzAgent. WOMMA is the official trade association for the word of mouth marketing industry, and is founded on the belief that the voice of the consumer is a better advocate than marketers can ever be for themselves.

“Word of mouth is a critical component in any company’s marketing strategy today, and I look forward to leveraging my expertise to promote word of mouth in the industry at large.”

“We had a highly impressive slate of candidates to fill this board position, and choosing among them was a challenge for our nominating committee. Sam’s long track record in word of mouth marketing and his clear commitment to furthering the aims of WOMMA made him a great addition to WOMMA’s stellar Board of Directors,” said Susan Tibbitts, WOMMA Executive Director.

Mr. Decker is a recognized expert in eCommerce, word of mouth and direct marketing. He was elected by the WOMMA Committee after receiving strong endorsements from members John Porcaro of Microsoft, Bryan Eisenberg of Future Now, Kelly Mooney of Resource, and Neil Clemmons from Critical Mass.

“I’m honored to be chosen as a board member for WOMMA, a non-profit organization I deeply respect and have long supported,” said Mr. Decker. “Word of mouth is a critical component in any company’s marketing strategy today, and I look forward to leveraging my expertise to promote word of mouth in the industry at large.”

At Bazaarvoice, Mr. Decker has been integral in helping retailers like Overstock.com, PETCO and Macy’s harness the power of word of mouth via customer-created content. A frequent speaker at marketing and eCommerce events and author of a popular marketing blog (www.deckermarketing.com), Mr. Decker will leverage his 14 years of marketing and online retailing experience to further the aims of WOMMA. The non-profit’s mission is to promote and improve word of mouth marketing by protecting consumers and the industry with strong ethical guidelines, promoting word of mouth as an effective marketing tool, and setting standards to encourage its use.

Mr. Decker has been involved in word of mouth marketing at startups and large companies for over 14 years. He started his career in the customer evangelist division for Apple Computer, where he spun the division off into a company aimed at developing word of mouth programs for clients such as Apple, Adobe, and Borland. In 1995, he wrote “How to Market With Computer User Groups”, one of the first books on high-tech customer evangelism and word of mouth. He also wrote “301 Do-it-Yourself Marketing Ideas”, a book on word of mouth and guerilla marketing tactics for small businesses.

Before joining Bazaarvoice, Mr. Decker spent seven years in leadership positions at Dell. From 1999-2003, he managed Dell's consumer web site, building Dell.com into the largest consumer eCommerce web site at $3.5B in annual sales, and establishing global best practices in merchandising, analytics, product management and operations. Mr. Decker also serves on the boards of Austin Texchange and the Web Analytics Association, and is an advisor to several high-tech and social networking companies.

As a member of WOMMA’s Board of Directors, Mr. Decker will suggest practices, principles and standards that can be shared across multiple functions in an organization striving for word of mouth excellence. He will assist in developing metrics and professional development activities to bring word of mouth into the operational language of corporations, as well as share new ideas on how online strategy plays a role in driving word of mouth for the entire company.

About WOMMA

WOMMA is the official trade association for the word of mouth marketing industry. Our more than 350 corporate members are committed to building a prosperous word of mouth marketing profession based on best practices, measurable ROI, and ethical leadership. Learn more about us at www.womma.org.

About Bazaarvoice

Based in Austin, Texas, Bazaarvoice offers outsourced technology, community management services, analytics, and syndication to encourage and harness word of mouth marketing, and bring it closer to a company’s brand and customer experience. The company’s flagship hosted and fully managed customer ratings and review service allows businesses to enable, encourage, and analyze customer ratings and reviews on their website. With Bazaarvoice, companies can empower their customers to share honest opinions and influence each other to make more informed and rewarding purchase decisions. Clients like Bass Pro Shops, CompUSA, Overstock.com, Macy’s, and PETCO benefit from a credible and reliable customer-to-customer community, without having to delve into complex IT work or the laborious process of community management. Bazaarvoice was named Marketing Innovation of the Year in the 2006 ClickZ Marketing Excellence Awards and received a “Red Herring 100 North America” award by Red Herring magazine. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.bazaarvoice.com or email info@bazaarvoice.com .