I'm not sure I understand your question. In what way to you connect "branding" to the advantages/disadvantages of 3d printing? I'm not trying to be a wisenheimer.

Branding is somewhat separate from actual business activity, be it 3d printing or dog grooming. When you build a brand, you build public awareness for your company and many times it not about the end product. If you could elaborate on what you are trying to think about here I think there might be some good discussion as branding is very important to any business. But as a purist I don't see how 3d printing could be detrimental. Without doing anything at all, I think that just mentioning 3d printing will have an overall positive effect because it's the "latest thing" and the public is a buzz about it. So far, nothing except a few news stories about printing hand guns has tainted its reputation.

I think I see some interesting discussion potential in your question if you can be a little more concrete about what you are trying to convey.