Your Tenant, Your Brand – Company Branding in Microsoft 365 - How To

Jordan Albaladejo
Jul 24
4 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

There’s a point early in every Microsoft 365 admin journey where a login page feels… generic.

When most new Microsoft 365 admins log in for the first time, they’re thinking about users, licenses, MFA, and trying not to click the wrong thing.

They are not thinking about branding.

But maybe they should be.

Branding in Microsoft 365 often gets filed away as "cosmetic", a job for the design team, or a task for later - once “real” configuration is handled. But here’s the take:

Branding is security. Branding is posture. Branding sets the tone before a single control is applied.

And that’s what this episode of Zero to Sixty is about.

🎥 Watch the full episode here

The Backstory

This is Episode 2 in the Zero to Sixty for M365 series, a subset of BlueFolder.ZIP - a video and content initiative created by me (Jordan Albaladejo, owner of Ingest services) to share compressed defensive insights for admins, MSPs, and anyone stuck managing a Microsoft 365 tenant wondering:

“Is this all supposed to look so… Microsoft?”

The answer: no. It can - and should - look like your company brand.

Why Branding Matters

Let’s run with the car analogy again (from Episode 1):

You can tune the engine to perfection. But if the car looks beat up, no one’s getting in. On the flip side, even a stock engine gets admiration if the body is clean, consistent, and polished.

Branding your tenant isn’t just for appearances. It influences:

Trust during login prompts
Employee confidence in tooling
Support accuracy (they know it’s your portal)
Surface-level polish for audits, demos, and external meetings

In other words, it’s the kind of low-effort, high-trust move that sets the tone.

The Walkthrough

📍 Admin Center Branding

Start at the obvious spot - admin.microsoft.com.

Settings → Org Settings → Organization Profile → Custom Themes
Upload logos (light/dark compatibility is key)
Define navigation bar colors
Set click-through URLs (link your logo to Helpdesk or homepage)
Enforce theme (disable user override)

Simple stuff, right? But you'd be surprised how many tenants leave the Microsoft default untouched.

Also available: Brand Center

This lets you store all your brand assets in a centralized SharePoint site for easier access by marketing or IT. Worth knowing about for mid to large orgs.

🔐 Entra ID Branding

Think of Entra as the front door. It’s what users see when they authenticate. So it really matters here.

Entra Admin Center → Identity → User Experiences → Company Branding
Customize the login experience:
- Background image
- Logo (banner + square variants)
- Footer links (e.g. privacy, terms, support)
- Username hint text
- Multi-language branding per browser locale
Bonus: Upload a favicon

💻 Intune (Endpoint) Branding

Now we’re inside the tenant. Users have logged in, and you’re managing devices.

Intune Admin Center → Tenant Administration → Customization
Set:
- Org name, logo, color scheme
- Support info (name, email, URL - even MSP contact if relevant)
- Whether users can enroll devices (tip: they shouldn’t unless policy calls for it in BYOD environment.)
- Privacy messages and categories
- App source visibility
- Hide sensitive features (reset options, etc.)

Again, most overlook this entirely. But for internal IT teams or MSPs delivering device management - this is where your name should live and it has key features revolving around the level of device access you give a user in enrolling and resetting devices.

📞 Microsoft Teams Branding

The final frontier - collaboration and video meetings.

Teams Admin Center → Teams Settings → Themes and Customization
Upload:
- Meeting lobby logo (light/dark)
- Background image for the lobby
- Button accent color
Enable:
- Default background blur
- Custom branded backgrounds (like the one I used in the video)

Especially useful when you’re hosting:

Client onboarding meetings
Job interviews
External stakeholder reviews

You don’t want “generic Microsoft meeting room” - you want “Welcome to your org.”

The Hidden Benefits

This might all sound like fluff. But branding is one of those “non-security security” moves. Here’s what I mean:

Reduces confusion: Staff can instantly verify if they’re in the right place or being phished.
Improves internal trust: Familiarity builds confidence. A branded login screen reminds them: this is managed.
Boosts operational pride: Teams see the polish and start treating the tooling like it matters.
Signals maturity: To clients, partners, and regulators, branding shows a sense of ownership and intent.

And best of all - it’s free (Included in licensing*). This is capability you already have with a M365 Business Premium or greater license.

Real Talk for Real Admins

If you’re an MSP, solo admin, or just the "accidental tech" at your org - this one’s for you.

Branding doesn’t require deep security knowledge, licensing add-ons, or complex deployment. It just needs someone to care enough to set it up.

And when done well, it changes the feel of the entire tenant - from login to endpoint to meetings.

It's a quick win.

Concluding Thoughts

Microsoft 365 is huge. But some of its most powerful tools are also the most overlooked.

Branding won’t solve your MFA rollout. But it will create a sense of presence, polish, and preparedness. And that, in many ways, is just as critical - especially when your team is the first line of defense.

It will physiologically boost morel and expectation for better security that is owned internally, as now it isn't Microsoft's branding that is seen, but your own.

This helps re-enforce the truth, that this tenant is yours and yours to secure.