Research: Branding Case Study One; The GazettE.

The first case study I have chosen to look at are a J-rock band called The Gazette, as I believe they have a very well defined brand image. 

(pictured; Group shot from their single 'REMEMBER THE URGE')

'The Gazette; in addition to being one of the most popular and influential bands in the visual kei scene within Japan, the GazettE has gained a large international following. The band has managed to break the mainstream music barrier of Japan and continues to be one of the leading bands on the Japanese Rock stage' - Wikipedia; The GazettE.

If I had to sum up their image in three words; Striking, Cool, and Dark.
Their image matches their sound incredibly well, even listening to a fragment of the song, it has their unique sound found only to them, making them very recognisable in the VK scene. 
Recently, their new album 'TOXIC' was released on the 5th October 2011, where they developed their sound several times in the album with some tracks using techno/dub-step sounds, some using piano and focusing on more melodic tunes and the rest to their own sound. Yet, these differences still match their sound and brand image.

(Pictured; Their latest album cover for 'TOXIC')

A shown above, their album cover also fits their latest image, sticking to the mysterious look, black and white, with the title being subtle and not the key feature of the image. The girl looks very striking, and looks literally toxic with the use of shading and the not so well shown gas mask. She also could be referring to oil and pollution with her dark image. She literally looks like poison. 

 In this video for the song 'PLEDGE', they stuck to filming in black and white, which stuck with their brand image of the album, but even fits the more melodic songs such as this one. 



-Teigan Kiss