Duolingo’s mascot, Duo the owl, is dead. Okay, Duo isn’t actually useless (we expect), however the language studying app dedicated so laborious to this bit that its CEO, Luis von Ahn, read a eulogy for this beloved inexperienced hen on TikTok.
As any fiction writer might most likely inform you, killing everybody’s favourite character is just not a good way to get folks to love you. And what’s the purpose of Duolingo’s unhinged startup advertising and marketing if to not get folks to love the corporate a lot that they are going to assist generate that candy, seductive shareholder worth?
However Duolingo pulled off this admittedly cheeky stunt as a result of Duo’s alleged cause of death is so particularly outlandish.
“As I’m certain you’ve seen by now, Duo was hit by a Cybertruck,” von Ahn stated within the video. “And it appears like, in actual fact, each single character at Duolingo is useless.”
Since making this pronouncement, Duolingo’s month-to-month lively Android customers jumped 25% 12 months over 12 months worldwide, per Similarweb, a digital market intelligence supplier. Similarweb additionally stated that international downloads on Android jumped 38% the day after the marketing campaign, and net searches elevated by 58%.
Duo’s “loss of life by Cybertruck” would possibly very nicely be a distraction, however it offers folks a technique to channel their anger at Elon Musk’s empire at a vital time.
As Musk’s DOGE shutters foreign aid programs, consumer protections, and global health initiatives, individuals are searching for a technique to the Tesla mogul’s oligarchical affect with out succumbing to sheer exhaustion from how a lot is occurring.
On Monday, Duolingo launched a marketing campaign to avoid wasting Duo from an premature loss of life — it’s “Duo or die,” the corporate says.
By finishing classes on Duolingo and retaining studying streaks alive, customers can acquire sufficient in-app factors to “save Duo.” An internet site that charts the progress in resurrecting this fuzzy inexperienced pal declares that point is working out, however doesn’t say when time will run out — presumably as a result of they are going to simply revive the idiosyncratic owl as soon as the objective is met.
Consider it or not, Duolingo most likely doesn’t wish to kill off its highly successful advertising and marketing asset.
Duolingo’s aggressive engagement farming techniques are definitely annoying for some customers. For those who’re linked with one other person on Duolingo, the owl would possibly narc in your pal and inform you that Charlie is behind on his French classes. However most startups are utilizing these over-the-top advertising and marketing techniques too — they’re just a bit much less intelligent about it.
“His mission was clear,” the Duolingo CEO mourned on TikTok. “Make schooling accessible, one terrifying notification at a time.”