These are the top 10 most valuable brands in the world

McDonald's has made major digital advancements to its ordering options, including implementing in-store kiosk screens and offering pre-ordering via its app.

Tencent was among 15 Chinese brands that ranked in the top 100 this year, buoyed by the continued strength of its WeChat brand.

Alibaba continues to dominate the global e-commerce market, thanks in part to recent investments in technology to streamline customer service and shipping, as well as the ongoing growth of Singles' Day.

While Facebook faced widespread ire regarding its privacy and data sharing policies, it still reigned supreme among social platforms. Facebook's growth was largely driven by Instagram, which saw a 95% increase in value, doubling its 2018 performance and solidifying itself as the fastest growing brand in the world, according to the BrandZ report.

Visa continues to play an integral role in pushing consumers to a "cashless society" with features like new quick-tap cards that improve checkout times.

Microsoft's investment in advancing programs like Azure, its cloud computing service, seems to be paying off.

"Microsoft has a legacy physical presence in many businesses that it leverages as it attempts to transition clients to the cloud," Erik Haroldon, Kantar's SVP of client leadership, wrote in the BrandZ report.

Despite being slammed with criticism over the last year — including continued outcry over how the company responded to internal sexual harassment allegations — Google is still the most-used search platform in the world.

Apple has worked to position itself "not as a device brand, but as a technology ecosystem with many branded devices and services," Dominic Sunnebo, Kantar's business unit and commercial director, wrote in the BrandZ report.

In the past year, it launched three new programs: a streaming service for original content, a news subscription service, and a gaming platform called Apple Arcade.

Amazon made major gains thanks to a savvy acquisition strategy, innovative revenue streams, and robust customer service programs that contributed to a brand value of $315.5 billion.