Roadblocking advertisement

According to Wikipedia, a roadblock is a temporary installation set up to control or block traffic along a road.

Roadblock adverisment are of two types or takes place in two ways mainly:

1. Vertical Roadblock.
2. Horizontal Rooadblock.

1.  Vertical Roadblock:The term is used when an advertiser buys up all the advertising on a channel for a given length of time like a full day

2.  Horizontal Roadblock:The term is used when an advertiser buys up all the advertising across a band of channels at a particular time, say an hour, thus preventing any other advertiser from being present at those times.

Employing this method of advertising does 2 things very well:

1. ‘Shock and Awe’ : A perfect example of a shock and awe tactic, it grabs eyeballs like no other.

2. Showcases super-deep pockets: With the kind of expense it carries, you have to have very deep pockets to be able to even afford it, leave alone evaluating whether it is worth. 

• The first road blocking in Indian Context was done in 1994 when a small fire extinguishing company. The company decided to use 9 different commercials to launch its diversification into keep fresh kitchenware.

• Later in the fall of 2007 the concept of roadblock re-appeared with a big bang.Vodafone reportedly spent upwards of Rs 10 crore to announce its name change to the world, using a range of short and long commercials exclusively in all breaks, both vertically and horizontally.

• On 1st April, 2009 Bingo used road blocking strategy which was a vertical road blocking by combining with MTV to celebrate BAKRA DAY.All commercial breaks were exclusive to Bingo,but beyond that the content itself was recreated to showcase the brand and its ‘no confusion, great combination’ message.