OTTAWA – Ottawa residents and out-of-town travellers could have puzzled lately over a wave of advertisements within the downtown from an organization making an attempt to promote them submarines.
Not the six-inch sandwich form, both, however the type of 300-foot submersible you’d be hard-pressed to squeeze into your storage.
The federal authorities is available in the market for a brand new fleet of submarines. It winnowed the sphere of bidders for the multi-billion-dollar procurement contract all the way down to South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean and German agency ThyssenKrupp Marine Methods this previous fall.
Over the previous few months, Hanwha advertisements selling its KSS-III submarine have been popping up throughout Ottawa — on billboards, on the backs of metropolis buses and on the Ottawa airport — a part of the shipbuilder’s efforts to make itself a family title within the nation’s capital.
Digital variations are being pushed to viewers of streaming providers and social media movies.
The orange-hued advertisements tout the Hanwha sub because the “greatest financial plan for Canada” and promise quick supply and upkeep providers on this nation.
A video on Hanwha’s YouTube channel reveals the dimensions of the KSS-III Batch II subs compared to acquainted Canadian venues — the ice at Montreal’s Bell Centre, for instance, or the baseball diamond in Toronto’s Rogers Centre.
Prospectus Associates is dealing with Hanwha’s public relations in Canada. The agency’s senior associate Keelan Inexperienced wouldn’t share the extent or price of Hanwha’s advert marketing campaign in an announcement issued to The Canadian Press.
He did say the objective is to place Hanwha in the identical league as Samsung, LG and Hyundai — South Korean manufacturers which might be broadly recognized in Canada.
“The Canadian Patrol Submarine Undertaking will probably be one among Canada’s largest procurements ever, so we would like Canadians to find out about Hanwha and perceive that the corporate is likely one of the largest and most superior shipbuilders on this planet,” Inexperienced stated.
Advertising and defence specialists who spoke to The Canadian Press say Hanwha’s advertisements are uncommon however not unprecedented — and could possibly be an impact of a fast-changing panorama for navy procurement and promoting in Canada.
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“It’s much less about promoting a selected product and extra about shaping a specific notion, a public creativeness, normalizing navy tech as mandatory,” stated Markus Giesler, advertising and marketing professor at York College’s Schulich Faculty of Enterprise.
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Hanwha isn’t the one firm promoting navy tech in Ottawa.
In late 2025, Sweden’s Saab posted a banner advert close to Parliament Hill showcasing its GlobalEye surveillance plane — a joint venture with Montreal’s Bombardier — and what it known as “Swedish innovation” in a “Canadian plane.”
On the identical time, Halifax’s personal Irving Shipbuilding ran a billboard close by selling its function in constructing the River-class destroyer. The primary of these warships is ready for supply within the early 2030s.
Philippe Lagasse, a Carleton College professor who research defence coverage, stated he’s seen this sort of promoting earlier than, notably in reference to the unique F-35 fighter jet procurement.
He stated street-level advertising and marketing might help make a model front-of-mind in a procurement competitors like this, notably if it guarantees a dedication to Canada’s financial system.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and his cupboard have made it clear that the selection between Hanwha and TKMS will come down partially to which firm delivers the best financial advantages for Canada — doubtlessly within the type of home job creation or upkeep contracts.
Lagasse stated that “ambiance” can have an effect on main defence spending selections and advertising and marketing like this might help affect the overall angle towards an organization.
“If in case you have a adequate variety of individuals shopping for into that or repeating it … it will definitely does percolate as much as decision-makers. And decision-makers clearly themselves are additionally one of many most important targets for this kind of promoting,” he stated.
The federal authorities is seeking to substitute the Royal Canadian Navy’s 4 Victoria-class submarines with a fleet of as much as 12 fashionable vessels beginning in 2035. Ottawa is racing towards the clock to interchange the getting older vessels and has dedicated to awarding the contract earlier than 2028.
Lagasse stated the accelerated timeline for the sub contract lends itself to an advert blitz.
The Canadian Press reached out to TKMS for touch upon Hanwha’s advert marketing campaign, and to ask concerning the German agency’s personal advertising and marketing technique, however didn’t obtain a response. Germany’s defence minister was in Ottawa in October as a part of a appeal offensive selling the TKMS subs.
Carney visited the Hanwha and TKMS shipyards as a part of his official journeys to Germany and South Korea final 12 months.
Shortly after the spring election in 2025, Carney ramped up Canada’s defence spending commitments in a bid to quickly meet NATO targets. He lately signalled plans to play a larger function in transatlantic safety, reinforcing the necessity for a contemporary fleet of submarines that may stand up to the situations beneath Arctic ice.
These commitments have opened up alternatives for defence contractors — and advert corporations — value billions of {dollars}, stated David Soberman, advertising and marketing professor on the College of Toronto’s Rotman Faculty of Administration.
“That’s a fairly juicy nut that quite a lot of corporations wish to have a chunk of,” Soberman stated.
Soberman stated in extremely technical fields like defence, advertising and marketing — the emotional play — can have an affect.
Whereas Nationwide Defence officers can clarify the professionals and cons of varied merchandise from a navy perspective, he stated, it’s the politicians who make the choice on the finish of the day — and have to clarify that call to voters.
“Ought to or not it’s solely based mostly on price? Ought to it based mostly on the flexibility that the corporate has to service the tools right here in Canada? Ought to or not it’s the variety of people who they make use of in manufacturing the merchandise?” Soberman stated.
“These are all components that don’t essentially have an effect on how the tools performs, however they definitely issue into the choice.”
Giesler stated public-facing defence advertising and marketing serves to normalize conversations about navy purposes when high-profile spending selections are on the horizon.
He stated these promoting campaigns counsel Canada could possibly be on the verge of returning to a “Chilly Conflict-like social public” — to a time when dinner desk conversations have been dominated by speak of nuclear weapons or aerospace know-how.
“The objective right here is to make it discussable once more, extra acceptable, and virtually inevitable … to have these conversations about defence spending,” he stated.
“It’s fascinating and interesting and a bit scary to see this all having a comeback.”
Soberman stated it’s too quickly to name Hanwha’s marketing campaign the beginning of a development. However he stated he wouldn’t be stunned to see comparable public-facing advertisements pop up in Ottawa and shipbuilding cities corresponding to Halifax.
“It’s gonna be fascinating to maintain our eye out to see whether or not different navy producers in Canada begin placing advertisements within the … gangways whenever you come off the aircraft in Ottawa,” he stated.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Jan. 17, 2026.
