From free samples of sweet drinks to Italian kitchen displays, brands in the DPRK are learning to compete with the state, writes Choson Exchange

How do you teach the craft of advertising in North Korea, a country which has for decades been indoctrinated against capitalism by the ruling Kim dynasty?

And how do you get people to connect with your products when most advertising space is monopolised by the state? If companies can’t get their wares into newspapers, or onto the sides of buildings or buses, how do people know they exist?

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For Tina Kanagaratnam, who works at PR firm Asia MediaTina, the answer is to link adverts to the communist propaganda citizens have grown up with. During a recent trip to the secretive state to teach a business workshop, Kanagaratnam says she explained that “PR was essentially propaganda for brands, the lights came on,” she explains.

For the past decade or so the only evidence of advertising in Pyongyang had been the handful of billboards for Pyonghwa Motors, which borrow popular slogans from state propaganda campaigns.

But advertising space now seems to be expanding as the capital, home to the country’s elite, develops signs of becoming a nascent consumer society.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Pyonghwa motors billboard in Pyongyang. Photograph: Choson Exchange

In the past year advertising billboards have cropped up around the tracks at sporting events, while the Pyongyang marathon, held in April and open to foreign runners, even had an event sponsor this year.



The name of the ginseng company was splashed on billboards everywhere, including on every runner’s race number. Participants were also given free samples of the sugary ginseng tonic.

A race number advertising the Ginseng brand

TV adverts

Another avenue being explored by local brands is TV advertising. At the weekends, the DPRK runs a second channel called Mansudae, which broadcasts educational material and the occasional commercial.

At the Pyongyang international trade fair earlier this year film-maker Aram Pan asked his North Korean guide what she thought about this new type of advertising. “It just came up... and disappears,” she said.

Trade fairs are also a growing and valuable platform to increase brand awareness. Two are held ever year, one in Pyongyang and one in Rason, home to the country’s specialised economic zone set up in 1991 to boost the economy.

These have become shows for the consumers who flock to find out what new products are on offer. For new companies it is the most important event to get exposure, and in Pyongyang this year the hottest items included canned beer, curve-screen TVs and Italian kitchens.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest One of Pyongyang’s new trains that carries video adverts Photograph: Ian Bennett/Choson Exchange

Pyongyang’s brand new subway trains are also providing a new way to reach consumers, via the digital screens installed in some carriages. In April, Pan captured adverts for heart medication and another featuring a child.

Across the capital, people now make active choices about what they buy, competition is undoubtedly growing and making sure your brand is seen is more important than ever.