Email Not Displaying Correctly in Gmail: Fix Outlook Background Image Collapse for Brevo (Sendinblue) for Client Rendering Engine Anomalies
Email client rendering variations are caused by differences in parser engines. Legacy Outlook engines ignore modern block models, forcing layouts to stack vertically. Below is the targeted integration guide to fix Outlook Background Image Collapse inside Gmail App (iOS & Android) templates when using Brevo (Sendinblue).
Technical Breakdown
Gmail App (iOS & Android) uses the WebKit / Blink which lacks support for standard rendering rules. This causes Outlook Background Image Collapse elements to break or collapse when rendering templates.
Brevo (Sendinblue) Behaviors
Brevo's rendering system injects inline spacing helpers to support their responsive editor, which can cause column overlaps in Outlook. Using explicit table alignments is required. Test layout code regressions side-by-side using the Campaign Diff Comparator before pushing visual style changes to your production templates.
Remediation Code Block
To resolve this in Outlook desktop, you must wrap your element or cell inside a Microsoft VML (Vector Markup Language) shapes structure that declares the background image explicitly using the 'v:background' or 'v:fill' vector properties. In your Brevo (Sendinblue) campaign manager, make sure you configure your links to run via {{ unsubscribe }}.
<td background="https://example.com/bg.jpg" bgcolor="#222222" valign="top" style="background-image: url('https://example.com/bg.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover;">
<!--[if mso]>
<v:rect xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" fill="true" stroke="false" style="width:600px;height:300px;">
<v:fill type="tile" src="https://example.com/bg.jpg" color="#222222" />
<v:textbox inset="0,0,0,0">
<![endif]-->
<div>Overlay Content</div>
<!--[if mso]>
</v:textbox>
</v:rect>
<![endif]-->
</td>Live Code Sandbox Test
How to Deploy inside Brevo (Sendinblue)
Copy the fixed VML or table wrapper code block from the remediation box above.
Open Brevo's template canvas, select the element you wish to configure, click 'Edit HTML' or insert a standalone 'HTML' content block, and paste the code.