ADR 0004 — Co-branded "powered by Rentiful" for White Label

Status

Accepted.

Context

The Rentiful White Label product gives operators a leasing microsite powered by Rentiful's matching engine and conversation infrastructure, on an operator-owned subdomain. Three positioning models were on the table:

Fully white-labelled. The operator brand is foregrounded; Rentiful is invisible. The renter never knows Rentiful is involved.
Co-branded "powered by Rentiful." Operator brand foregrounded; Rentiful is co-signed underneath.
Operator-fronted, Rentiful-signed. Rentiful is the dominant brand; the operator is a marketing-level co-brand.

The choice affects: brand equity, commercial framing, renter experience, the operator's perception of what they are buying, and how the Renter Loop operates on partner surfaces.

Decision

Go with option 2: co-branded "powered by Rentiful." Operator brand foregrounded on all partner surfaces; Rentiful co-signed on every page and every outbound message.

Rationale

Builds Rentiful brand equity across both sides of the marketplace. A fully white-labelled product hides Rentiful from renters, which limits brand compound over time. Renters who have a good experience on a White Label site should come to associate "Rentiful" with that experience, not just the operator.
Honest about who is running the conversation. The Renter Loop owns every conversation through to signed lease. Pretending otherwise (option 1) would create friction when the conversation continues in parallel with the operator's execution work — the renter would be confused about who is talking to them.
Commercially sellable. Operators want their brand foregrounded (ruling out option 3) but accept a co-brand as a reasonable trade for a turnkey leasing surface at £0 upfront.
Consistent with the conversation as unit of interaction model. One continuous conversation, branded appropriately for the surface, owned by the Renter Manager regardless of surface.

Consequences

Every White Label microsite and outbound message carries "powered by Rentiful" as a co-sign. This must be enforced at the platform level rather than left to per-operator configuration.
Platform requirement created: multi-brand conversation infrastructure must support the operator-primary, Rentiful-cosigned rendering mode as a first-class option.
Operator sales positioning (in Operator Loop Domain A) frames the co-brand as a feature (credibility, compliance, transparency) rather than a concession.
If an operator pushes hard for a fully white-labelled deployment, the answer is no. This is a positioning decision, not a negotiable feature.

Alternatives considered

See Context section. Both rejected alternatives remain documented there for future reference in case positioning pressure changes.

vehicles/white-label.md — the vehicle spec that implements this decision.
Renter Loop — On surfaces — the operational explanation for Renter Loop behaviour on partner surfaces.
platform.multi-brand-config — the platform requirement this decision creates.