Mayor Bloomberg’s aggressive television advertising campaign and glossy direct-mail deluge are only two elements of a political marketing blitz that may well shatter New Yorkers’ images of how mayoral races are conducted.

In the past few weeks, Mr. Bloomberg’s re-election strategists have taken an unusual step for a citywide candidate: They have bought print advertisements in neighborhood weeklies. And in a nod to a more personalized era, predating the BlackBerry and even cable television, Bloomberg volunteers are reaching out to voters with personalized messages that strive for a human touch seldom encountered in a campaign with an electorate in the millions.

“I am a volunteer for Mayor Bloomberg’s campaign,” a handwritten note begins, composed in blue ballpoint pen with rounded, childish block letters. “Our volunteer director asked me to personally invite you to a briefing at headquarters. Please join us again and help us spread the mayor’s message of independent leadership for New York.”

Neatness isn’t the point – the third “e” of “independent” was clearly changed to an “e” from an “a.” Although the handwriting wouldn’t win penmanship awards, the message is clear: “Your time and talents are important to the mayor.”

Bloomberg campaign volunteers have written by hand more than 15,000 notes to New Yorkers who registered at www.mikebloomberg.com. The notes are in either English or Spanish, depending on which part of the Web site the voter was exploring.

Lest skeptical New Yorkers think they are receiving impersonal form letters copied onto card stock, Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign spokesman, Stuart Loeser, said: “People write from the heart.”

“It’s not just about the mayor’s record,” he said. “It’s also about a personal touch.”

Of course, it’s also about money. While the billionaire mayor can afford to spend whatever he wants, the Democrats are operating on a $5.7 million spending leash before the primary, and their campaign officials said they cannot afford those techniques.

Personalized political notes were popular in the early part of the 20th century. They re-emerged in the 1996 congressional elections, when AFL-CIO members were each responsible for contacting three or four voters multiple times. Here in New York, some of Charles Schumer’s closest supporters, including his mother, wrote letters during his first Senate campaign in 1998. Last year, supporters of a presidential candidate, Howard Dean, turned to note-writing early in the campaign for the Democratic nomination.

Political observers said, however, that they could not recall candidates’ sending large numbers of handwritten letters during New York City mayoral campaigns.

A professor of government at Dartmouth College, Linda Fowler, said Mr. Bloomberg’s strategy is supported by research. She said voters are more likely to respond to personal contact than to direct mail or to television advertisements. As for telephone calls from a phone bank, common here in the city, Ms. Fowler said there is evidence they actually might backfire.

“I think voters are being bombarded with so many political signals, ads, and interest-group mailings, and so forth that have gotten increasingly strident and polarizing,” she said. “This is something personal, not mass-produced. It causes people to open the letter instead of throwing it away. … If they open it, they’re more likely to read it because it’s handwritten and it looks different.”

In tandem with the handwritten notes, the Bloomberg campaign is placing print advertisements in community newspapers.

A professor of public administration at Columbia University, Steven Cohen, said the advertising is consistent with the handwritten letters.

“I think part of what happens with some of these papers is it seems more genuine and local – it’s part of the fabric of the community,” he said. “You’re next to the ad for the local barbershop, you’re alongside people’s everyday needs. Bloomberg’s need to demonstrate to people that he can relate to the everyday person gets reinforced by these kinds of advertisements.”

Some local publishers agreed with Mr. Cohen that “this sort of retail electioneering is coming back into fashion.”

While advertising in papers such as Downtown Express or Our Town in Manhattan isn’t unheard of in mayoral politics, it’s unprecedented for a candidate to place so many ads so early.

In 2001, Mr. Bloomberg ran a couple of ads in the Queens Chronicle just before the general election, the paper’s publisher, Mark Weidler, said. That was the first time a mayoral candidate’s ads had run in the Chronicle.

This year, the Bloomberg campaign has already signed a six-week contract with the paper, with the election still four months away.

Publishers bristled at the notion that an advertising purchase would influence their papers’ endorsements. But Mr. Weidler said: “It’s a good move because he has unlimited funds to spend and it’s still a five-to-one Democratic city. He needs to get his message out, and if he wants to get to the grass roots, doing it with weekly newspapers is the best way to get the audience.”

The president of Community Media, which publishes Gay City News, Downtown Express, and the Villager, said Mr. Bloomberg ran a couple of ads in his papers in the 2001 campaign. “But nothing like he is buying this year,” the publishing executive, John Sutter, said.

“I think he’s realized the vitality of our newspapers and how important they are and how cost effective they are to target these communities,” Mr. Sutter said.

Manhattan Media’s president and CEO, Thomas Allon, whose company publishes Our Town, West Side Spirit, Chelsea Clinton News, and the Westsider, said Mr. Bloomberg is running full-page ads inside the weeklies and banner ads on their front pages.