In a February marketing stunt, language learning app Duolingo announced that Duo — its cheeky, foreboding green owl mascot— had died. In an Instagram post, the company jokingly suggested “Tbh, he probably died waiting for you to do your lesson, but what do we know.” The true cause of death was later revealed in a eulogy on YouTube from Duolingo Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Luis von Ahn.
“Duo was hit by a Cybertruck,” von Ahn said. “It looks like, in fact, every character at Duolingo is dead. On behalf of their friends, family and Dua Lipa, we honor their memory.”
Von Ahn said people should continue learning Duolingo in Duo’s honor.
“We’re excited to rise up to the occasion in the face of our twerking, fuzzy, lime green, fictional, crusty owl friend,” von Ahn said. “So in his honor, let’s open up the app, do a lesson and share your fondest memories.”
While the app remained largely unchanged, users quickly noticed a ‘dead’ icon. Meanwhile, Duolingo launched a global campaign on its website, challenging users worldwide to collectively earn 50 billion XP to revive Duo. XP or Experience Points are earned by completing lessons and activities on the platform.
Junior Akio Altekar-Okazaki, who has a 482-day streak on Duolingo, said the event was surprisingly motivating. A streak refers to the number of consecutive days a user has completed a lesson on the Duolingo language learning app.
“The whole situation with Duolingo being dead was so funny that it actually made me want to participate more,” Altekar-Okazaki said. “I found myself doing extra lessons and challenges just to contribute, and the community effort made it even more motivating.”
Junior Jonathan Bakhash, who has a 1053-day streak, said Duo’s death spurred many people to get back in the game.
“Duolingo has been kind of dead recently,” Bakhash said. “I used to do a lot of lessons every day to learn, but now I’m just trying to keep my streak. When I saw Duolingo’s Instagram posts, though, I started getting back on track.”
After users hit the 50 billion XP goal, Duolingo revealed in a Feb. 24 Instagram Reels that Duo had been resurrected. In a YouTube video from Duolingo, “it’s time we talk,” the company explained their reasons for the stunt.
“I’ve always had two main goals. Get people to do their lessons, and get Dua Lipa to notice me. Neither was working. I had to do something drastic,” Duo said. “So I thought, why not kill one green bird with two stones.”
Indeed, Duolingo did kill one green bird with two stones. Not only did Dua Lipa respond to Duolingo saying “Til’ death duo part” on X, their marketing strategy delivered results.
According to TechCrunch, Duolingo’s monthly active Android users increased by 25%, global downloads on Android rose by 38% and web searches surged by 57%. The strategy of using large-scale, time-limited community events to boost engagement is a tactic commonly seen in many video games, such as Fortnite’s seasonal events or Pokémon GO’s global challenges.
In the future, Bakhash said he hopes Duolingo continues its clever and quirky marketing tactics.
“There’s really no other educational platform like Duolingo,” Bakhash said. “They should keep it up with their funny encouragement because it’s working.”
And as Duo himself put it:
“I guess you could say, I put the fun in funeral.”
