If you've spent any time at all online you're aware of the content curation site Upworthy. Upworthy's videos go viral in seconds and are shared and re-shared all over the world. Why? Because they appeal to people's emotions. And video is the best vehicle to appeal to emotions. It's far superior in moving people to laugh, cry, learn, get mad, and take action. Video may be the world's best storyteller, and storytellers always appeal to their audience's emotions.

All of this started with charities. It makes sense that the first advertisers to catch on to the power of emotion were those who need donations and altruistic support. The only reason anyone donates to a charity or nonprofit is emotional. So places that support orphans, or wounded veterans, or crime victims, or animals, were quick to reach out via emotional videos.

And of course it works. It's a truth that we engage more with the one child who is killed in a local car crash than we do with the 685 victims of an airplane crash that took place on the other side of the world.

At some point marketers looked at what was working in the charity and nonprofit arenas and realized--duh!--that the same approach could sell other things. And we started getting all those touching Budweiser commercials during the Superbowl. They don't push beer: they show horses, dogs, and occasionally children, none of which are in the beer-drinking demographic. But people smiled, and people connected that warm fuzzy feeling with the Budweiser brand.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a warm fuzzy feeling associated with what you're selling on VideoAdds? Of course it would. And you don't need to put kittens in your video to make it work.

In fact, instead of doing a product review and figuring out how to reposition yourself so that you can add kittens into the mix, what you must do instead is figure out what your audience wants. What are the needs and desires of the people you want to reach? Who are they? What do they dream about?

If you're selling an appliance, imagine who your customer is. What would make him or her smile? The neighborhood children who stop by for a treat from the refrigerator? Cooking up some treats for the homeless shelter on the new range? Anything that takes the person out of the humdrum of the commercials they're used to seeing and into a space where they feel they can do something meaningful is emotional branding at its best. And making sure they believe that your product or service is meaningful? That is priceless.