Of course TV ads work

...all you need for proof is the huge margin of victory that Mike Bloomberg is going to rack up in his race for Mayor of NYC tomorrow.

Worth noting that he spend $60,000,000 of his own money. If you buy enough TV, of course it works.

Worth noting that you don't have $60,000,000.

Also worth noting that his opponent, Freddy Ferrer, will spend seven million dollars. To lose. By a lot.

Yes, it helps that Bloomberg is turning out to be a great mayor, far better than his predecessor. But it's also clear that having 6x time the money and the advantage of a bigger and better brand makes it impossible for a challenger to use the same media tools to catch up.

Most brands, most products, most candidates--are Freddy, not Mike. If you intend to grow and gain share, your seven million dollars isn't going to help a bit if you spend it on a medium that rewards the market leader.

As an aside, it's worth noting that virtually all political marketers agree that TV ads work when they get the opponent's supporters to stay home... that it's way easier to market acceptance and laziness than it is to market action and change.

So, if you're Freddy (not Mike) and you want to grow, time to make a remarkable product and market it in a new way.