We’ve Met Meta, But Could It Be Better?

Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the new name and logo as he outlined the company’s vision of a virtual future in what he describes as the metaverse.

While he may not have disclosed how much was spent on the rebrand, it’s safe to say we’re talking millions of dollars, vast numbers of man hours and a fair chunk of the donut fund for all the meetings it took.

Which begs the question, does rebranding have to be such a massive undertaking?

Yes and no. Rebranding is a massive undertaking. But you could rely on professionals to do the job for you.

At Freelancer, we ran our own competition (just for fun) to see what the top freelance talent around the world could come up with as a new name and logo for Facebook Inc.

This entry is not a million miles away from what Zuckerberg came up with – and we’re pretty confident it would have been considerably more affordable.

The official Meta logo is a bit more fluid, but the basic shape is very similar. The colors and the fade certainly complement what we all know as the Facebook brand and they convey the futuristic element required for the metaverse vision.

Rebranding is always tough when done in-house. After years of all pulling in one direction, it can be hard to shift it without any third party influence. 

So, if you’re reading this Mr Zuckerberg, next time you need a rebrand, why not run a contest on Freelancer.com for access for design and branding specialists with an outsiders view?

Running a contest would have allowed Zuckerberg to focus on other matters – although right now the whole rebranding thing may have proved a nice distraction from the negative press. In calmer times, when he’s not trying to protect his reputation, if Facebook's founder and owner runs a contest on Freelancer.com, he need only have contacted the creator of the above design to ask for a few little tweaks.

One of the biggest reasons to run a contest on Freelancer.com is the sheer variety of ideas generated by creatives from all corners of the globe. Despite being just for fun, our contest received almost 2000 entries! Imagine having that amount of choice when it comes to selecting the deal name and logo.

Ok, so this design may be very different from what was chosen, but we think it offers that vision of an interconnectivity that Facebook Inc. were looking for from their rebrand.

The color scheme clearly ties in with Facebook and the font doesn’t look out of place alongside any of the subsidiary companies such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Oculus.

Plus, for a brand that has been portrayed as almost dystopian in recent times, the logo makes great use of white space to represent the ability to step out of the metaverse and into the real world.

This example is arguably the closest to the actual Meta logo and may well have Zuckerberg lamenting the time and money he invested into his rebranding. It serves as great evidence that outsourcing aspects of your rebranding is far from abdicating responsibility for it. 

Indeed, a well-crafted description of what you’re looking for from your rebranding is the most important factor.

If you can get across your vision, identity and ethos, along with what you want your logo and name to convey, you can kick back and relax while creative minds do the leg work for you.

Obviously for ‘kick back and relax’, we really mean ‘get on with stuff that’s more your skillset’ - but the important thing is you’re putting your own talents to best use.

Of course, with over 1900 entries, it was inevitable that some would fail to make the grade.

This entrant, for example, opted to switch the words ‘face’ and ‘book’ without using ‘meta’. A tough ask for a logo designed for a company called Meta.

Likewise, this one chose to leave out the name altogether - although it’s fair to say the basic idea of the logo itself is similar to that chosen by Meta.

Now, let’s be honest, as a global tech giant, Facebook have their own teams and agencies in place to deal with branding and PR. That’s not to say that they wouldn’t be very welcome to run a contest. In fact, it would have been prudent for them to do so, even if just to give their branding agency some fresh ideas.

Running a contest on Freelancer.com is the perfect way to source ideas for your business, whether it’s for a new logo, a business name or a complete rebrand. 

Why not give it a try? It’s free to post a contest, you can work with the freelancers to tweak their ideas until you get the result you want and you’re not required to choose a winner until you’re totally satisfied (of course, the freelancers are developing their ideas on their own time, with the hopes of winning. So it’s best to respect their time).  

When you run a small business, your objectives are just as crucial as those of huge corporations. It’s not your commitment, desire or ambition that's different, it’s your access to funds.

When you post a contest on Freelancer.com for a logo, slogan or anything else, you give yourself a greater opportunity to compete with the big boys.

Top creatives from around the world are bound to come up with far more ideas than you could ever hope to dream up in your spare room when you should be taking a bit of time away from work.

You retain complete control and can provide feedback on entries to encourage entrants to make changes and tailor their ideas to your way of thinking.

It’s a win-win.

Essentially, you project manage your rebranding in the way you would hope and expect, but with far more ‘staff’ than you could otherwise dream of.

Clearly, Mark Zuckerberg has ambitious dreams and is on his way to achieving them. You may not be dreaming just as big yet, but outsourcing to freelancers may well be your best move towards expanding your ambitions.