Beyond Brand

Abstract

In late October 2021, Facebook rebranded to Meta Platforms Inc. This reinvention rooted in Silicon Valley’s idealization of rebranding and utopic associations of perpetual progress, however, exist in contrast to Facebook’s Founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg’s likening of Facebook to basic infrastructure—i.e., electricity and chairs—and his purported disinterest in ‘coolness’. Through an exploration of infrastructure, brand, and rebranding as it relates to Facebook (now Meta Platforms Inc.), this article seeks to examine the resulting paradox these contrasting concepts present, leveraging brand, image, and associations versus “boring”, transparent infrastructure.