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On Thursday morning, Facebook made a huge announcement at their 2021 Connect conference. The behemoth tech corporation that we all know as ‘Facebook’ is officially changing its name. 

Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company will now be known as ‘Meta.’ Along with this name change, Facebook also revealed their brand new logo –  a twisted infinity sign, displayed in the signature Facebook blue.

Although it may seem sudden, this type of rebrand is not uncommon for large corporations. 

 

Let’s talk about why companies rebrand.

 

Just like Amazon, LG Electronics, Yahoo!, and numerous other companies over the years, Facebook also found itself in need of a branding facelift over this past year.

As most of us know, Facebook has faced quite a bit of negative backlash in the news over the last couple of years. They’ve been accused of everything from unethical business practices, to employment discrimination.

So what does their brand have to do with this?

For starters, audiences frequently associate a brand – whether it be a logo or a name, with certain feelings. Even a change in naming and logo can be used as a partial refresh. Although it’s good to keep in mind that even a rebrand won’t always wipe away years of bad press. 

In addition to this, however, Facebook also used its rebranding to announce a new direction for the company. This is a common practice for large companies that provide a good or service to the public. Since consumers associate brand names with particular products that they’ve grown up with, sometimes a rebrand is necessary when changing a company’s main product.

In their case, Facebook used the rebrand to announce a pivot to focus on AR and VR.

Have some more questions about branding? Feel free to shoot us a message.