Branding is the part of reporting that clients notice first and agencies fix last. The logo is last quarter’s, the accent colour is the template’s default blue, and the footer still says “Report generated by Tool X”. None of it is wrong, exactly. All of it says “we did not have time.”
White-label reporting means the tool disappears and the agency, or the agency’s client, is the only brand on the page. This article explains the three levels of it, why we tie them to plans rather than settings, and how to decide which brand belongs on which report.
Three levels of branding
Level 0: the tool’s brand. The report header shows the reporting software’s name and mark. Fine for internal use, wrong for anything a client sees.
Level 1: the agency’s brand. Your logo, your name, your accent colour. Every report from every account manager looks like it came from the same agency. This is the minimum for client-facing work and it is included in every Screebl plan.
Level 2: the client’s brand. The client’s logo and name on the header, as if the report came from their own marketing team. Common for agencies that work as an extension of the client’s team, and for agencies that resell reporting to their own network. In Screebl this is available on the Agency plan and above, and it is chosen per report, so the same agency can send agency-branded reports to one client and client-branded reports to another.
Why branding follows the plan
We made branding a property of the plan and the report, not a setting someone has to remember. Two reasons.
First, consistency beats flexibility here. If branding is a per-report chore, it gets skipped in a busy week, and the one report that goes out with the wrong logo is the one the client forwards to their CEO.
Second, client branding is a commercial feature. Agencies that white-label are usually charging for it, and it belongs in the plan that reflects that business.
Where the brand shows up
A report has more surfaces than the header.
- The header card: logo, name, “Report generated” date. This is the block that switches between agency and client branding.
- The colours: charts and accents use the dashboard theme. Set it once; every report built from that template follows.
- The exports: the PDF export reproduces the page, header included, and never includes the editing controls.
- The link and the portal: agency subdomains put your name in the address bar; the client portal shows your brand on the login page.
- The emails: account-creation and password emails sent to clients carry the agency name.
If any of these still shows the tool’s brand, the white label is incomplete. Check all five on your next demo.
Choosing agency vs. client branding
A simple rule that has held up across our customers:
- If the client pays you and knows you as an agency, use agency branding. It reinforces who did the work.
- If the client presents the report onward as their own, use client branding. Their stakeholders should see their brand.
- If you resell reporting to other agencies or to a franchise network, use client branding with your own subdomain, so each end client sees their own name and your partner’s address.
When in doubt, ask the client where the report goes after them. The answer usually decides it.
Setting it up in Screebl
- Agency profile: upload the logo once. It appears on every report by default.
- Client profile: upload the client’s logo when you create the client. It is only used when a report is switched to client branding.
- Template theme: pick the accent colour in the template builder. Charts and KPI tiles inherit it.
- Per report: choose “Agency” or “Client” in the header selector. The choice is saved with the report and used by the public link, the portal and the exports.
That is the whole setup. Nobody has to remember it next month.
A note on “Powered by”
Agency-branded reports carry a small “Powered by Screebl” mark in the header’s corner. It is the only trace of us on the page, and it is removed on client-branded reports. We think that is the honest trade: agencies get a full white label where it matters, and the small mark where they are already the brand.
