Brands all want the same thing when they advertise: to develop a connection that leads to sales. If they can somehow penetrate viewers' distracted minds with an emotional message that catches and keeps attention, they get the outcome they want. And with any luck, that message will come across when viewers are in a good mood.In the last couple of weeks, ESPN has been knocking the cover off the ball when it comes to establishing that emotional connection and keeping viewers' (inspired) attention. And while all the rage was around the ESPYs, the MLB All Star programming delivered runs just as fast and furious.For example, look at this bowl of beautiful cherries ESPN served up around the Home Run Derby:Emotional analytics platform Canvs filtered through the almost 485k tweets associated with the airing, and honed in on the 137k that contained emotional language. As you can see from the chart below, the event was a grand salami. Not only were people engaged, they were feeling some great things during the broadcast.That is the kind of stuff you don't turn away from. Want proof? iSpot.tv's attention analytics have the derby pegged at a 91% attention score. That means (85% or so) people just let the ads run to completion. That means brands smart enough to advertise during this event not only got their ads into a positive experience, the odds that their message was viewed is higher. T-Mobile, Keytruda, Chevy, Taco Bell, State Farm, M&Ms, Capitol One, Vista Print, Master Card and more saw completion rates in the 95% range.And unlike a lot of TV programming, ESPN delivered a younger audience with 30% in the 18-34 age range, a stat that holds consistent against other MLB All Star programs:  Hundreds of million of TV ad impressions later and ESPN can go back to its clients with a high five around the bases.