Facebook Rebrands Instagram, WhatsApp to Clarify Ownership

Social networking giant Facebook Inc. is looking to make its ownership of subsidiaries Instagram and WhatsApp more apparent through a rebranding effort.

Both of the platforms will soon have “from Facebook” added to the end of their names, in a move that will make their ties to the parent company more obvious to the average consumer. While intended to clear up any consumer confusion, is linking these platforms more of a positive or negative for these brands?

“As marketers, we know that Instagram and WhatsApp are part of the Facebook family of apps, but this may not always be the case with the wider consumer population,” said Toni Box, group director of social and content at ForwardPMX, Columbia, SC. “It makes sense that Facebook would want to strengthen that positioning from a branding perspective, in efforts to align all of their products under the core Facebook brand.

“Earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg also alluded to plans to integrate the messaging services of Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook, so this could be one way to ultimately unify the products in preparation of that,” she said.

“Additionally, from a Facebook branding perspective, this move could also help Facebook create a stronger perception of brand equity that would be important to potential investors who may not realize the breadth of Facebook’s products.”

 See the full article with more of Toni Box’s comments here in Luxury Daily.