Marketing & Branding Portfolio
Introduction
This portfolio will illustrate the application of marketing and branding theories on Fujii Kaze. Japanese singer-songwriter Fujii Kaze is a rising star. Influenced by his father and he began playing the classical piano at young age, when he was 12 years old, he stared became an overnight sensation after he was uploading piano covers on YouTube. In 2019, Universal Music has signed Fujii Kaze as an artist, with his first debut single “Nan-Nan”. After a year, he also released his first studio album “HELP EVER HURT NEVER” in 2020, this album had showcased his favourite genre R&B, jazz and soul. It was awarded the Billboard Japan Hot Album chart. His 2022 album “LOVE ALL SERVE ALL” continued to expand his mentality into music. Recently, he released his latest album “Prema” which share his perspective of Love, and it is his first English album.
Kaze’s first European tour began in July 2025, and his second North American tour took place between August and October of the same year.
2 key theories to apply in analysis
The theories that would underpin into this essay are Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism (specifically focus on personality, physique, relationship, self-image) and AIDA Model.
On one hand, speaking of Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism, this theory contains 6 categories which are physique, personality, relationship, culture, reflection and self-image. For the physique part, it means a tangible physical characteristics of a brand such as logo or color. According to nprmusic (2024), in this Instagram post, it showed Fujii Kaze’s autograph which signed a heart shape at the end of the autograph. It shows that Fujii Kaze wanted to share a concept of love to the audience. Moreover, his previous album name also presented a characteristic to audience. “HELP EVER HURT NEVER” , “LOVE ALL SERVE ALL” and “Prema”. These album names also include the element of love, especially in Prema, it is actually mean love, affection and kindness in Hindi language. Beside the title of the album and his unique autograph, his merchandise also presented his brand. According to a Japanese YouTube channel “CDJapan (2023), the admin was unboxing one of the Fujii Kaze stadium album which included CD, poster and photo album, especially the poster really did show his brand. The poster captured him doing a meditation posture which let the public know he believed in Buddhism.
For the personality, the way Fujii Kaze presents to audience is a sense of calm and peaceful as what he believes and the concept of his music is all surrounding by love. For example, According to Fujii Kaze. (2025), he uploaded his behind the scenes of “Prema” with a short interview, the speaking tone by Fujii Kaze and the content of the short interview make the audience feels relax and understand his ideology. Therefore, he always authentic and humble to others. Also, according to Chik, K. (2025), Fujii Kaze was interviewed on Melodic Magazine, he mentioned that he always wanted to develop as a person, and main objective in life is to continue developing my spirituality. It shows what attitude and public image he is. Moreover, his web design also presented his personality which related to audiovisual elements of analysis.
There is significant web design which showed on top left corner, his name in a heart shape, presenting that his music is all surrounding by love. Also, beside of audiovisual elements of analysis, he presented his present his personal brand through written elements such as artist statement and social media captions. For example, he always using a heart emoji on his social media captions, which sharing love to all
Over his fans. For the artist statement, he had written down a sentence that show his brand on his website as well. “Kaze will continue to spread love and freedom throughout the world through his music and life”
For the relationship, the audiences want something that makes them feel connected and involved. Fujii Kaze hold a concert all over the world including Europe, North America and Asia. According to Pileberg, S. (2023) Live concerts frequently foster a higher sense of social connection and shared experience. A sense of solidarity between the audience and the performers may result from the shared environment. For example, “Garden” – one of the most famous songs by Fujii Kaze, this song is about accepting the temporary nature of love, relationships and life, which linked with audiences through vulnerability and shared human emotion.
For the self-image, it is about how the audience sees themselves through Fujii Kaze’s music. Fans can feel calm and inspired, seeing themselves as connected to be something pure and universal through his music. According to Sunup, H. (2025) Listeners will undoubtedly discover Fujii Kaze’s deeper meaning as they become engrossed in his songs. Through his music, he suggests for pursuit of a “higher self” capable of finding love devoid of ego, selfishness, jealously and other negative feelings. These messages through Fujii Kaze’s song can linked his audience feelings, resonating with love and spirituality.
On the other hand, Specking of AIDI Model, it is a marketing framework with 4 steps, illustrating different stages that the customers are going through.
Fujii Kaze did very well on the stage of attention. According to his YouTube channel Fujii Kaze (2010), he already started posting covers on YouTube, building his fanbase since when he was young and he performed incredibly good on those covers, which draw attention not only Japanese people but also all over the world. After he became an artist singer, he released a single called “Shinunoga E-Wa” , this song has gained global traction on TikTok and charts expose him to new audiences. According to kaze-tv [@kaze-tv] (2025), this post has posted 9 weeks and it already achieved over five hundred thousand likes, with every positive comment from social media users. Therefore, Fujii Kaze gained the public attention mainly through YouTube and the viral song.
For the stage of Desire, it is about how the audience develops a strong emotional connection with Fujii Kaze or how it desirable. Fujii Kaze’s songs always using emotional appeals to create string connection. For example, a social platform – Reddit, there is a discussion about the emotional connection with Fujii Kaze’s song, one of the comments mentioned he was going through a difficult period when Kaze’s music entered my life, and it helped me get through his darkest period. It shows that Fujii Kaze’s song helped his fans or listeners.
For the final stage of action, it is about how fans ultimately engage, support, or convert to long-term followers. The fans would attend concerts tours for supporting Fujii Kaze, buying merchandise or physical albums. Moreover, it is more usual that fans would post their song cover on social media on social media, promoting their favorite singer. For example, ~KODAMA~. (2025) a singer that posted covers on her YouTube channel, she hold a mini concert for covering song in Italy which also make other people know who Fujii Kaze is through this concert.
How do Fujii Kaze meet the needs and expectations of his audience?
According to YouGov, Fujii Kaze is getting popular after he finished his Europe tour in July 2025, which shown on the line graph. It is obvious that it started gradually increasing to 10% in October 2025. Compared to the category of women,
It shows that Fujii Kaze’s music attracts more man fans or audience more. It may relate to his music achieve the needs and expectation of his audiences. A majority part is that Fujii Kaze’s is being authentic and emotional on his music. Topics such as self-acceptance and healing are common themes in his lyrics, and these type of topics strike a deep chord with listens. For example, one of his songs “Tabiji” is about loss, gratitude and continuing forward despite there so much pain. One of the sentence lines of the song is “Embrace all the pain and tears and move forward” which reflects emotional honesty and softness.
Moreover, authenticity would be another need and expectation of his audience. According to a YouTube channel NME. (2025), it is an interview about Fujii Kaze, Kaze has mentioned that he grew up feelingshy and unsure of himself and He didn’t think he was “special” or “talented.” Instead of acting as though he has always been self-assured, fans are grateful that he acknowledges these feelings. Beauce of his authenticity, it is easier for Kaze and his fans having a great relationship and directly meet the need and expectation.
Fans connect with him on a deep level because of his authenticity.
How do Fujii Kaze fit within the wider market? Who are main competitors?
The majority reason of how Fujii Kaza is able to fit within the wider market is social media platform. As this essay mentioned before, he started uploading his music covers on YouTube to gain audience at the beginning. According to a IFPI – Global Music Report 2023, YouTube is the most comfortable platform for Kaze interacting with his fans, and due to the COVID-19, every promotion and album release date got delayed by the pandemic. However, this situation turned out become a benefit to Kaze because he can leverage the advantages of the network. On his YouTube channel, he uploaded a full version of his concert video, specially it is during covid and no audiences in the stadium, which makes the world raise awareness of Fujii Kaze. Therefore, social media had a huge impact on Fujii Kaze music career since when he was young, with his unique personality causing him fit within the wider market.
Fujii Kaze’s majority competitors are other famous Japanese artists and also international artist who also share the same image or message of music as Fujii Kaze. For example, coldplay also shares love and hope on their songs. According to an online magazine(The Everyday), vocalist – Chris Martin said“We are just trying to make music that speaks to the heart.”. Which this philosophy and image is shared by their music. Compared to famous Japanese artists, according to grammy award official website, there are so many Japanese signers became more widely known because of anime such as YOASOBI and Ado. Therefore, Fujii Kaze’s competitors would be Japanese singers who get famous by anime, organizing tour in the future and also some artists who have a similar personality and meaning of the song.
Reference:
aliceinborder. (2023). Hey all – just wanted to share… [Online forum post]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/fujiikaze/comments/1fff8e0/hey_all/
Chik, K. (2025). Fujii Kaze writes “a love letter to English pop music” on his first English album ‘Prema’ » // MELODIC Magazine. // MELODIC Magazine » Melodic Magazine keeps you up to date on your favorite musicians with interviews, tour dates, live photos, and live show reviews. https://www.melodicmag.com/interviews/fujii-kaze-writes-a-love-letter-to-english-pop-music-on-his-first-english-album-prema/
CDJapan. (2023). [Unboxing] Fujii Kaze LOVE ALL SERVE ALL STADIUM LIVE [English Subtitles] [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWfacSb2CAI
IFPI – Global Music Report 2023 – state of the industry. Available at: https://www.ifpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Global_Music_Report_2023_State_of_the_Industry.pdf
Fujii Kaze. (2021). Fujii Kaze “Free” Live 2021 at NISSAN stadium [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VUKDx0wfwY
Fujii Kaze. (2025). Fujii Kaze – Prema (Behind The Scenes) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILm7nMDhnmo
Fujii Kaze. (2010). 【コブクロ】kobukuro－STAY ピアノ [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLksIDtY6nI
~KODAMA~. (2025). GARDEN (LIVE) – Fujii Kaze 藤井 風 // KODAMA~Italy [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Nprmusic. (2024). The talented Fujii Kaze is a Japanese singer and pianist known for his sultry R&B grooves and catchy songwriting skills. [Photo]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/C5nwgPluJHE/
NME. (2025). Fujii Kaze on ‘Prema’, working with A.G. Cook and Tobias Jesso Jr, and love within his new record[Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTQPsNIqZBU
Sunup, H. (2025). Fujii Kaze opens the doors to a new way forward. Weverse Magazine. https://magazine.weverse.io/article/view/1335?lang=en
Pileberg, S. (2023). The miraculous effect of music: Concerts Bind People together. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-miraculous-effect-music-concerts-people.html
kaze-tv [@kaze-tv]. (2025). Did you know the real story behind Fujii Kaze’s ‘Shinunoga E-Wa’? [Video]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DO9Dom2E8u3/
User, G. (2025). Hear me Out: our votes for artists of a generation — the everyday. The Everyday. https://theeverydaymagazine.co.uk/music-1/why-coldplay-are-my-favourite-band-and-the-voice-of-a-generation
10 neo J-Pop artists breaking the mold in 2024: Fujii Kaze, Kenshi Yonezu & others | GRAMMY.com. (n.d.). https://www.grammy.com/news/j-pop-artists-bands-to-know-2024-yoasobi-fujii-kaze-videos
