The social media platform will stay the same, but the parent company of Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus and Facebook is rebranding to FACEBOOK.

The global parent company is rebranding with all-caps type, sharp edges and a colour palette reminiscent of Instagram. 

Amid controversies of fake news, political advertising scandals, congressional hearings, accusations of staff mistreatment, a crumbling plan for revolutionised digital currency, national inquiries and other debacles, FACEBOOK is attempting to strengthen its brand connections between subsidiary brands, rather than create distance.

FACEBOOK officially announced its new multi-coloured logo, designed with “clarity and openness” to “create visual distinction between the company and app”.

The social networking app and web interface branding will stick to the familiar white and blue.

Antonio Lucio, global CMO of Facebook, told Bloomberg earlier this month that Generation Z and Millennials need to know where their brands come from, “We needed to be more transparent with our users in showcasing that everything is coming from the same company.”

According to a Pew study from last month, only 29% of Americans know that FACEBOOK owns Instagram and WhatsApp.

The new logo will appear within FACEBOOK’s various platforms over the coming weeks – including Instagram and WhatsApp. The company began including ‘from Facebook’ tags within apps in June in an effort to be “clearer about the products and services that are part of Facebook”.

Lucio told Bloomberg, “When they know, the overall appreciation for the Facebook family actually grows.”

Despite a torrent of bad press over the past year, Lucio insists that associating Facebook with Instagram makes “no difference” on how users feel about Instagram. In regards to WhatsApp, however, the same association with Facebook does negatively impact users’ perception of the app – what Lucio calls a “brand tax” – primarily due to WhatsApp’s positioning as a safe, private mode of communication.

According to Lucio, the company did discuss a total name change among other ways of distinguishing itself from the social network. In the end a rebrand was chosen, to avoid looking like FACEBOOK was running away from its brand-associated problems.

“It would have been perceived as disingenuous by the rest of the world,” Lucio said. “We want to step up and deal with what we have to deal [with].”

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Image credit: FACEBOOK