Facebook Changes Product Branding To FACEBOOK

5 November 2019
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Facebook is presenting new branding for its services and products in an attempt to differentiate the company from its familiar app and website.


Instagram and WhatsApp are amongst the services that will bring the new FACEBOOK brand name in the next few weeks.


The main Facebook app and site will keep its familiar blue branding.


The new logo, which is in capital letters, uses "customized typography" and "rounded corners" so the company's other items and app look different.


The branding also appears in various colours depending upon which product it represents. So, for example, it will be green for WhatsApp.


"We wanted the brand name to link thoughtfully with the world and the individuals in it," Facebook stated. "The vibrant colour system does this by handling the colour of its environment."


Facebook's chief marketing officer Antonio Lucio said: "People should understand which companies make the items they use. We began being clearer about the product or services that become part of Facebook years ago.


"This brand name change is a way to much better interact our ownership structure to the individuals and businesses who utilize our services to link, share, build community and grow their audiences."


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US Senator Elizabeth Warren has actually stated she desires to break up the huge tech companies such as Facebook, Amazon and Google and put them under tougher policy.


This plan might be viewed as Facebook's way of countering, although Ms Warren - publishing on Facebook - stated: "Facebook can rebrand all they want, however they can't hide the truth that they are too big and effective. It's time to break up Big Tech."


Distancing the Facebook brand - the blue app that's home to almost everyone, including your parents - from the trendier Instagram, a location for you and your friends, has always made great business sense for Facebook.


And it apparently worked: when Pew scientists asked study participants whether or not Facebook owned Instagram or WhatsApp, 49% of American adults were "not sure".


So why would Facebook make this modification?


It brings a number of benefits. Front of mind: the company is covering itself from allegations it conceals how effective it truly is by not making it definitely clear they are behind the majority of the most significant apps in social media.


And Facebook also wants to ward off efforts to break it up, by making the case that the company isn't simply a conglomerate of different, distinct apps which could be easily broken up by regulators. Instead, this rebranding argues the firm is one huge linked organism, called Facebook.


Facebook has come under criticism just recently over a variety of problems.


Its manager Mark Zuckerberg needed to face US lawmakers last month to discuss the company's policy on not fact-checking political adverts.


He also had to safeguard prepare for a digital currency, speak about the social media network's failure to stop child exploitation on the network, and was quizzed over the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.


Earlier in the year, Mr Zuckerberg said the company was going to make changes to its social platforms to improve privacy.


These consisted of messages sent via Messenger being end-to-end encrypted, and concealing the variety of likes an Instagram post receives from everybody however the person who shared it.


Does rebranding always work?


Several other huge companies have actually tried rebranding in the past:


In 2001, British Airways turned tail on its strategies to remove the red, white and blue Union flag from its aircraft and replace it with "world images"


In the very same year, Royal Mail rebranded as Consignia, only to switch back once again a year later


Dunkin' Donuts dropped the "Donuts" from its name last year to try to move more into the coffee market and its share rate has actually continued to rise


The moms and dad business of Paddy Power and Betfair started trading under the brand-new name Flutter Entertainment in May this year. It stated the new name "much better reflected the variety of the group".


'If it ain't broke, do not fix it'


Manfred Abraham, chief executive of consultancy Brandcap, told the BBC: "I'm sure this will be an effective relocation for Facebook. After all, the moms and dad brand remains strong, despite recent troubles, and reminding consumers that Instagram etc are all will help with cross-membership.


"The rebrand is unsurprising as it is following a pattern - that of simplification. Many organisations are choosing a strong, however pared-back visual recognize and are shrugging off 'style' in favour of plain."


However, Mr Abraham believed Facebook was right to leave the logo design on its flagship social media platform as it is.


"Facebook's main site doesn't require a rebrand. The old adage holds true: if it ain't broke don't fix it."