You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again: video is taking content marketing by storm. HubSpot found that people watch an average of 1.5 hours of video per day, and it’s no surprise—after all, YouTube has more monthly unique visitors than any other channel aside from Facebook. And businesses that are effectively utilizing video are reaping the benefits. Axonn Media research found that 7 in 10 people view brands in a more positive light after watching interesting video content from them; they are more likely to share the video with others, spend more time on the company’s website, and increase their interaction with the brand.

But not all videos are created equal.

There is a powerful neurochemical called oxytocin that enhances empathy and is produced in our brains when we are trusted or show kindness to others; so, if you hug a friend, a dose of oxytocin will be released. But in recent years, the Center of Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University began to question if we could “hack” the oxytocin system. To do this, they tested if narratives shot on video, rather than just real-life interactions, would cause the brain to produce oxytocin. Sure enough, by taking blood draws before and after the narrative, they found that character-driven stories do consistently cause oxytocin synthesis. The entertainment industry, for example, has fully capitalized on this fact with the creation of reality TV shows.

What the Center of Neuroeconomics discovered is that a key aspect to an effective story is that it must “transport” us into the characters’ world. When done effectively, character-driven stories with emotional content result in a better understanding of the main points a brand wishes to make and enable better recall of these points down the road.