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Brand Insights / August 2025
Each year, Kantar ranks the 100 most valuable brands in the world — a list that spans alphabetically from Adidas to Zara. For August 2025, we've chosen 12 books from JMU’s print and electronic collections that delve deeply into the story behind one of this year's top-ranked brands.
Find more materials about this topic by searching for a company like Apple in Library Search.
August 2025 Gallery
Buy Now: How Amazon branded convenience and normalized monopoly
How Amazon combined branding and relationship marketing with massive distribution infrastructure to become the ultimate service brand in the digital economy.
The one device: The secret history of the iPhone
The history of the invention that changed everything - and became the most profitable product in the world.
Sweet and deadly: How Coca-Cola spreads disinformation and makes us sick
Describes the damage Coke does to America's health and the remarkable campaign of disinformation conducted by the company to keep consumers in the dark.
Contested kingdom: Fan attachment and corporate control at Disneyland
Presents a groundbreaking study centered on the history of Disneyland and Disney theme park enthusiasts.
Careless people: A cautionary tale of power, greed, and lost idealism
Gives you a front-row seat to Facebook, the decisions that have shaped world events in recent decades, and the people who made them.
Behind the search box: Google and the global internet industry
Google has become a model of robber baron rapaciousness thanks to its ruthless monetizing of private data, obsession with monopoly, and pervasive systems of labor discrimination and exploitation.
Franchise: The golden arches in black America
Investigates the complex interrelationship between black communities and America's largest, most popular fast food chain: McDonald's.
The Insider's Guide to Innovation at Microsoft
This book reveals the patterns behind Microsoft's biggest wins and losses -- from the Xbox revolution to the Windows Mobile miss and the unexpected rise of Bing in AI.
Netflix recommends: Algorithms, film choice, and the history of taste
Brings to light the constellations of sources that real viewers use to choose films and series in the digital age and argues that although some lament AI's hostile takeover of humanistic cultures, the thirst for filters, curators, and critics is stronger than ever.
University of Nike: How corporate cash bought American higher education
The dramatic expose of how the University of Oregon sold its soul to Nike, and what that means for the future of our public institutions and our society.
Grande Expectations: A year in the life of Starbucks' stock
A Wall Street Journal reporter and editor provides an accessible, entertaining approach to understanding investing, taking readers on a journey through a year in the life of a stock.
The rule of logistics: Walmart and the architecture of fulfillment
Tells the story of Walmart's buildings in the context of the corporation's entire operation, itself characterized by an obsession with logistics that date to its founding in 1962.