I suggest that anyone who has found a winning formula is not going to disclose it here!
For the record, since most of my AW ads are off at the moment due to my servers getting kinda busy at peak times, I can tell you that I have aimed for positions 2--7 since I find myself not even noticing the "above the organic results" spots, even when looking for my own ad when I was #1...
(AWA1/AWA2: when you folks release the "advertise during specified time window" feature I'll be turning my campains on again!)
I can tell you that my click volume was reduced, and it wasn't a disaster, but I did not run long enough to see any noticable changes.
Rgds
Damon
I think, for me, the #1/2 spot is the best, especially for local searches. I think what I am trying to say is that for the "average" searcher (not our trained eyes), the top spot is still king.
GOod luck!