This is an interesting development, in terms of branding.

Let’s leave aside for the moment my perpetually exploding aneurysm about Oracle’s use (and misuse) of the Siebel brand around CRM. (We covered some of that here. And here. And here.)

It’s possible no one cares about this but me — wouldn’t be the first time I got caught tilting at windmills, and almost certainly not the last — but I really do believe there’s a value in consistent marketing messages, and I’m not sure Oracle has really wrapped its head around this when it comes to the “Siebel” name. The most recent policy, as I understand it, is that “Siebel” is the on-premises CRM brand, and “Oracle CRM On Demand” is, well, the on-demand side.

So why were some demos here at OOW occasionally showing “Siebel CRM On Demand”? Beats me. Like I said, let’s leave that aside for now.

There are several folks at Oracle who seem to really get the value of social networking — I tweeted all about Anthony Lye’s wonderful perspective, and I’ll try a blogpost or news story about it before I blow town. But the introduction of a feedback function on Oracle’s Web site — it’s being called Participate now — is a sure sign the company is really making an effort to engage. But part of being transparent means letting customers and the world see the sausage get made, even when you’re not sure what to call the sausage yet.

That current Participate URL looks like this: http://www.oracle.com/participate.html

But it can also be found here: http://www.oracle.com/learnmore.html

And it’s not clear whether there’s a difference, or whether submissions at the two locations end up in the same hands.

Worse still, the concept was actually introduced earlier this month, according to this Oracle blogpost, and at the time is was branded as “Oracle Listens.” The company prebriefed a few analysts, including Charlene Li (who was one of our Influential Leaders this year), and the name seemed to take root — perhaps because, as that Oracle blogpost noted, the Oracle Marketing team has been taking the reins over the wonderful Oracle Mix social community.

So how did we get from Oracle Listens to Oracle Participate? I’m not sure, but I’m hoping someone from Oracle will comment below to let us know.

[UPDATE, 9/24, 9.24a PT (love the synchronicity there!) -- a reply tweet from Oracle's Justin Kestelyn:
@oracletechnet @kitson Same thing; "Participate" is the official name (more descriptive). ]

Whatever the answer, it’s a wonderful change — in fact, in a podcast I just did with Paul Greenberg (that is, a podcast he recorded for his site; we’re multimedia-challenged here, for the time being), I pontificated for a bit about how the shift from “listening” (passive, noncommital, an uncertain outcome) to “participation” (active, engaged, forward-moving) is an excellent metaphor for the transition being made in CRM overall, and I think it’s a sign that the people at Oracle are aware of the difference and that at least the marketing folks know the difference between a mere product name and a true branding opportunity.

Now….who wants to be definitive about this “Oracle/Siebel CRM” thing?  Anyone?