Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette During a Super Bowl party Sunday at the Elisco Advertising office in Lawrenceville, Bernadette Elisco, left, John Elisco, Katie Kuppelweiser, and Nate Boguszewski react to the Kevin Federline commercial for Nationwide Insurance.

By Teresa F. Lindeman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

By the end of Super Bowl XLI, John Elisco was no longer paying much attention to the game -- but more importantly, he also was writing off the commercials.

Like people across the country, the partner in Lawrenceville agency Elisco Advertising held a Super Bowl party. But this was a crowd that got quiet for commercials. They cared about the game but their real focus was on the work that companies reportedly were paying $2.6 million per 30 seconds to show.

One Super Bowl commercial for King Pharmaceuticals and the American Heart Association featured a "heart" attacked by such villainous characters as high blood pressure, diabetes, weight and high cholesterol. Super Bowl ad poll What would the Super Bowl be without the commercials? We want to know which ads were your favorites. Go here to take the poll and to see the latest results.

But by the end of the game Mr. Elisco was disappointed. Not just in his Chicago Bears, who had slipped out of contention, but with the advertisers that he believed failed to make marketing history by championing a breakthrough into hot new interactive tools.

Not everyone agreed, of course, including some of those sitting at the same table in his storefront location on Butler Street, eating his chips and drinking his beer. But that's why he'd invited them, to get people in the ad business together to chew over the industry's efforts.

By Monday, there would be plenty of opinions vying for attention. USA Today readers liked some of Budweiser's many ads, while brain scans done in association with a UCLA professor rated a Coca-Cola spot called "video game" the most effective in firing up positive emotions.

On Sunday night, the ad industry types gathered in Elisco's office had only their own responses and experiences to work with.

Few watched the cartoonish frivolity of the pre-game show. A local spot for Uncle Charley's Sausage Co. triggered a debate over who handles the Vandergrift company's marketing, while a man-as-mom spot for Combos is quickly outed as a spot that's been seen before.

The casual plan was to rate the Super Bowl ads on message, humor, ability to stand out from the crowd and potential to motive the audience. A stack of white forms sat on the table near bottles of red wine.

Right away, it was obvious this would not be entirely serious market research. Some just sat back to watch and offer commentary. Ben Elisco, the agency's principal and creative director, decided to rate the Combos ad even if it's been around. He enjoyed it.

Katie Kuppelweiser, a young account executive, already had seen Kevin Federline's rap for Nationwide insurance many times on the Internet. Still, she couldn't wait for it to come on during the game.

The first breakthrough spot arrived with a thump. A Budweiser ad where two guys play the "rock, paper, scissors" game for the last bottle and one tosses a real rock brought startled chortles. "I love it," blurted out John Elisco.

A quick follow from Doritos -- a user-generated idea in which a young man and woman crash and fall -- stirred general interest, although Ms. Kuppelweiser commented on a recurring thread of violence running through the evening's work.

That aside, John Elisco thought the ads worked: "Those two were great."

At the next break, FedEx won some nods for its office on the moon with the astronaut who is hit by a meteor. A Bud ad with an auctioneer speeding up a wedding didn't go down well.

A Snickers spot with two auto mechanics accidently kissing as they eat a candy bar and then ripping out chest hair to prove their manliness prompted one participant to write on a form, "What does chest hair and testosterone have to do with candy?"

Later, when a group of referees huddled to debate a call, Keith Schmidt announced, "Whoa, they're close enough to eat a Snickers." The political consultant, who was a friend invited to the party, relished the role of sit-down comic. A game delay for an injured player prompted him to jokingly plead, "Can't we go to some commercial?"

GoDaddy.com, the company that specializes in making ads it can get banned from the broadcast, elicited more proof this was not the average football crowd. As a man walked down an office corridor in the spot, he was recognized. "That's a friend of mine," offered Randy Kovitz, an actor who moved to Pittsburgh to work on his master's degree at Point Park University.

For three quarters plus a halftime show, most waited patiently for ads to break through the marketing clutter. A lonely robot, a jungle of a work place, men stripping for a Chevy and a bottle of Coke honoring African-American achievement. Gorillas hoping for Budweiser, workers slapping each other, Robert Goulet scared off by nuts and crabs worshiping a cooler. Endless CBS promotions.

A line from the much-hyped Federline rap: "If you need a dollar, holler, 'cause I got a whole stack," provided a little unintended commentary on the spending spree on display in front of professionals accustomed to much smaller budgets.

More than a few spots, including several car ads, drew blank stares and the murmur of chatter rose as people found other things to talk about. As the fourth quarter started, the ads seemed less special and some guests headed home.

Still planted at the table, John Elisco looked in vain for commercials that told customers to send a text message or even go to a Web page for a coupon, anything to keep the conversation going beyond the 30-second spot. "I really thought this would be the coming out for mobile marketing," he said.

Super Bowl advertisers tend to push both traditional and virtual envelopes. While the commercials have been posted online and some campaigns involve interactive pieces, few attempted to use the pricey on-air time to draw consumers to those things.

The Indianapolis Colts continued to pile up points and Mr. Elisco continued to pile on, pooh-poohing the Budweiser Clydesdales and stating that an NFL ad based on a consumer's winning pitch, well, stunk.

But wait.

"Did it? I didn't think it did," objected Nate Boguszewski, a Lawrenceville resident who operates his own photo/graphic studio. He also liked the production in a Chevrolet commercial that featured a medley of songs, again not one of his host's favorites.

A tally after the game showed the car spot had more than one fan. The partygoers' favorite spots were: 1. Bud's "rock, paper, scissors"; 2. CareerBuilder.com's "darts"; 3. Nationwide's rapping K-Fed; 4. Doritos spot with the guy in the car; and 5. The Chevrolet spot with a medley of songs.

The group's least favorite ad was from Salesgenie.com.