Duolingo’s mascot, Duo the owl, is dead. Okay, Duo isn’t actually lifeless (we predict), however the language studying app dedicated so exhausting to this bit that its CEO, Luis von Ahn, read a eulogy for this beloved inexperienced fowl on TikTok.
As any fiction writer might in all probability inform you, killing everybody’s favourite character just isn’t an effective 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 mentioned within the video. “And it seems to be like, in truth, each single character at Duolingo is lifeless.”
Since making this pronouncement, Duolingo’s month-to-month energetic Android customers jumped 25% 12 months over 12 months worldwide, per Similarweb, a digital market intelligence supplier. Similarweb additionally mentioned that international downloads on Android jumped 38% the day after the marketing campaign, and internet searches elevated by 58%.
Duo’s “loss of life by Cybertruck” would possibly very properly be a distraction, but it surely provides 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, persons are in search of a technique to pan 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 achieve sufficient in-app factors to “save Duo.” A web site that charts the progress in resurrecting this fuzzy inexperienced good friend 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.
Imagine it or not, Duolingo in all probability doesn’t need to kill off its highly successful advertising and marketing asset.
Duolingo’s aggressive engagement farming techniques are actually annoying for some customers. If you happen to’re linked with one other person on Duolingo, the owl would possibly narc in your good friend 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 simply a little less clever about it.
“His mission was clear,” the Duolingo CEO mourned on TikTok. “Make training accessible, one terrifying notification at a time.”