The problem is, the product was toilet tissue. You can imagine the jokes that sprang from this brainstorming session when we tried to find the "loyalty connection." While I do agree that I have a favorite toilet tissue for all the reasons I won't write about in this column, what can my favorite brand of soft, embossed, lavender-smelling tissue do to connect with me through digital channels?

We thought of cool little microsites tied to overarching brand themes, we thought of cause-related efforts that would tie the brand to some higher cause, and we thought about using video from the television ad on the site to add humor and engagement to the experience.

Through all the brainstorming, we struggled with how we would support this brand connection through digital channels, much less the email marketing. I'll hold judgment, since there is probably some award-winning email campaign around toilet tissue somewhere out there, but I fail to see the value this channel plays with the consumer in connecting the brand with these values of consumption.

Too many marketers try to make something fit when it doesn't naturally do so, primarily because it's in the cookie-cutter marketing mix. But brand connections are elusive things to create and foster over time.

I've said many times that email has four functional values to consumers -- but you can't make them fit, they are natural extensions of the brand experience, not just a reason to interrupt consumers. The values are: functional value, promotional value, social value and informational value.

Functional values tie to convenience and the ability of email to support the relationship in a fulfillment capacity, as illustrated by financial institutions. Email supports product fulfillment and notification. Promotional value is exactly what it seems: there's a promotional connection, illustrated through brands like Neiman Marcus, where consumers know the emails they receive are about merchandising and promotion, but still find value in this connection.

Social value supports the peer-to-peer connection. Most marketers can't intrude in this functional area, unless you produce information that has syndication value that can be shared amongst peers and family. This doesn't mean a 20% off coupon or sweeps entry has "share" value.

Informational value indicates the consumer's need to stay informed and is very specific to the timing of the consumer. Email Newsletters typically have a declining interest over time, primarily due to when/how the consumer enters into this information exchange and the value it plays at that particular point in time.

Building these four values into an email program that helps support the brand connection is the tricky thing, but it starts with being "real" about what the channel can really do. Just because it's inexpensive to use and easy to syndicate doesn't mean it has value.

I'd challenge the masses to periodically create small focus groups. I'm amazed at how little this is administered in today's planning or feedback loops. For some reason, we think digital surveys are the end-all for feedback, but that's a blind feedback loop that's void of context. These small groups aren't that costly to administer. For one pitch we worked on, we did exit polls at a department store to determine why people drove to outlet centers, and determined that the mind-set of typical mall visitors was different from that of outlet customers. We realized that email played a part in how both kinds of customers stayed informed and used promotions, but the outlet shopping experience was a family event, with a degree of planning directly tied to the distance the consumer lived from the outlet mall and the size of the family. It was a family event for all ages. We found that the brand connections with retailers in outlet malls were stronger than that of a typical mall connection.

This isn't something we would have understood via a digital survey, nor would we have seen the dynamics of how a family responds to the same question.

This commentary is insightful. I recommend it to others.