Here's something I wanted to pick some minds on: Microsoft (Atlas) recently released a study stating that bidding on branded search terms is probably a waste of budget. Their case surrounded the idea that users intended to go to the site of the branded term anyway. They say half of a budget is often spent on the company's branded keywords.

Should we be spending a lot on branded terms? The way I look at it, for those companies that have high brand awareness/reputation and that have a dominant organic visibility in the SERPs, they definitely want to be bidding on their branded terms if they are surrounded by competitors on the results page. They must try to stay above their competition so the competition doesn't steal their prospective clients. However, if they have a high brand awareness and high organic visibility, coupled with little to no competition, then is it a waste of money to be bidding on branded keywords?

Bidding on the branded terms will only add to the top of their organic listing, covering the same amount of real estate at the first view of the screen. If the competition is bidding on their brands as well (as many do), the competition's links would still show on the side sponsor listing as well. Since the user is already intending to search for that company name, they would surely want to click on the link of that company name when it comes up in the organic listing.  Any thoughts? Tips?