This might seem like a silly question, most marketers (which I am) will crawl over broken glass to tell you that its everything And to some extent it is. (Seth Godin’s post on Hunger is brilliant at describing JUST how powerful). But picture this. In a SaaS framework, especially where you are taking a utility service, does the brand REALLY matter?

I was reading the comments on Mary-Jo Foley’s post about sharepoint in the cloud and was struck by the intensity of the brand dislike coming through. Classic anti-Microsoft vitriol. But if I wanted I could find the same on Google, opensource products etc.

Given that any decision to move to a SaaS application should include the ability to extricate yourself and your data from that provider, does the brand thing even matter? Consider email as the example. Most would agree its a utility application, valuable but utility. If you get antsy with what you get from Google, move to Zoho. You get Antsy with Microsoft move to Zimbra. You get the picture.

In that world, does the brand actually mean anything? Do you know what brand of road you use? What about the tap water?  Does the provider’s brand mean the utility provided is any different from their competitors? What about if you bring your historical perceptions to the table in a SaaS world, does it make a difference? Really make a difference?  Why would you pay differing amounts? Would you fall for the marketing?

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It absolutely matters.
written by Bill, November 18, 2008

How is that lines form outside of an Apple store on the rumor that a new product will be announced. It's from Apple so we must have it! Google launches many trivial products that draw crowds because they are google... even though many startups launch the same products and no one notices. Part of it is distribution, but a lot is character.

I expect Apple to be cool and simple. I expect Google to be fast and innovative. I expect these things because of previous experience and because of my previous experience (and the other inputs I get) I have positive and negative associations with brands that have a huge influence on my receptiveness to new things from those brands.

Brands matter but they are not created by marketing, they are created by delivering for customers over time (and marketing on top of that).

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