• by Ray Schultz , July 13, 2021

Validity is offering certificates it says will make it easier for marketers to adopt Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI), the standard that allows brands to place their logos next to authenticated emails within supporting email clients.  

The announcement follows yesterday’s news that Google is supporting BIMI across all Gmail inboxes. With Yahoo and Fastmail also supporting the standard, BIMI is available in roughly 2 billion inboxes, Validity says.  

Validity is patterning with digital security firm Entrust to help its clients obtain Verified Mark Certificates (VMCs) that meet BIMI standards. Entrust is a BIMI Certification Authority (CA).

VMCs certify that email senders are utilizing DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance), the primary email security standard.

Brands have been slow to adopt BIMI, but the rollout by Google, which first announced it would test and support the standard last year, may drive greater usage.  

Through its Everest platform, Validity is also enabling DMARC monitoring. Also, BIMI Wizard gives brands a place to host their BIMI Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) image, while allowing them to generate their BIMI DNS code. Users can also preview their message in a BIMI-enabled inbox, the company says. 

Validity is one of several firms that helped develop BIMI.  

“As advocates of ethical marketing and members of the AuthIndicators working group, Validity jumped at the chance to support the broader adoption of BIMI across the email ecosystem,” states Validity Chairman and CEO Mark Briggs. 

“With the shift to digital marketing greater than ever before, it’s harder than ever to stand out in inboxes cluttered with spam and irrelevant ads,” he adds.

Other firms involved with BIMI development include MailChimp, Proofpoint, Validity, Fastmail, Twilio SendGrid and Verizon Media.