How Duolingo attracts attention, sustains attention, and drives customer engagement

In this presentation I talked about Duolingo and how their content-based marketing strategy attracts attention, sustains attention, and drives customer engagement. The example I focused on is one of the most viral campaigns from the last 6 months - Duolingo’s “Dead duo” campaign.

Transcript

1. Dead Duo Nikki Parsons
2. A bit about Duolingo Duolingo is the world’s most popular education app (40.5 million DAU) Competes with Net fl ix, Instagram, TikTok, and any other app that consumes users’ time and attention.
4. Emmanuel Orssaud, Chief Marketing O ffi cer @ Duolingo “When you see an owl twerking on TikTok, the first thing that comes to mind is, ‘Oh, I haven’t done my Duolingo today.’ This approach [drives] a lot of engagement for us,”
5. Attracting Attention 👀
6. Attracting Attention What worked before 6
7. Attracting Attention What they tried this time 7
8. Attracting Attention The post that broke the internet • 144 million views on X • 558,000 likes & 20,000 comments on TikTok 8
9. James Kuczynski Creative Director Brand & Marketing @ Duolingo “We love planting the seeds of debate: Is this real? Is it not? The internet runs with it and that’s the magic.”
10. Sustaining Attention 🎢🎢🎢
11. Sustaining Attention Building a narrative arc Feb 12 morning: Duo hit by cybertruck Feb 13 morning: Other characters dying Feb 11 afternoon: Funeral video
12. Sustaining Attention Building a narrative arc 12
13. Zaria Parvez Senior Global Social Media Manager @ Duolingo “Candidly, we had three posts, and we were gonna post them and be chilling—just another day at Duolingo.”
14. Sustaining Attention Being fl exible with the plan 13
15. Sustaining Attention Using multiple mediums Merch PR 14
16. Content engagement ❤
17. Content engagement 160,000 pieces of UGC 17
18. Content engagement Brands jumped on the trend 18
19. Content engagement 50 billion XP to resurrect Duo 19
20. James Kuczynski Creative Director Brand & Marketing @ Duolingo “We knew it would get a reaction…we … had the data from years of social listening to back it up.”
21. Wrapping up 📝
22. 1.7 billion organic impressions 22
23. Luis von Ahn CEO @ Duolingo “This quarter, we launched one of our most successful marketing campaigns ever and spent practically nothing on it: Dead Duo. This social-led narrative…drove a meaningful lift in new and resurrected users as our community rallied around their favorite owl.”
24. Campaign assessment • Strengths: • Creativity • Agility (speed & fl exibility) • Strong narrative • Knowing your audience • On-brand • Limitations (planning time): • Impact on team’s health • Improved gami fi cation of XP micro-site • No brand partnerships 24
25. Thank you 🙏
26. References CBS Chicago (Feb 13 2025). Death of Duolingo mascot takes a new turn [Video] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g3rb95BvGk [Accessed 30 May 2025] @DuaLipa (Feb 12 2025). [X] https://x.com/DUALIPA/status/1889661358955733300?lang=en [Accessed 30 May 2025] Duolingo (n.d.a). TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@duolingo?lang=en [Accessed 30 May 2025] Duolingo (n.d.b). X. https://x.com/duolingo. [Accessed 30 May 2025] Duolingo (Mar 31 2025). Shareholder letter Q1 2025. https://investors.duolingo.com/static- fi les/01420520-3377-4985-887b-55ed3c1e4fc5 [Accessed 30 May 2025] Katz, Leslie (Sept 6 2024). Why the Duolingo Owl suddenly looks disgusting. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/lesliekatz/2024/09/06/why-the- duolingo-owl-suddenly-looks-so-sick/ [Accessed 30 May 2025] Kolirin, Lianne (Feb 12 2025). Duolingo’s cute owl mascot is dead. It is an ex-owl. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/12/tech/duolingo-owl-mascot- dead-scli-intl [Accessed 30 May 2025] Kwok, Eileen (Apr 9 2025). ‘Kill’ your products for attention - if you can do it as well as Duolingo. The Drum. https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/ 2025/04/09/kill-your-products-attention-if-you-can-do-it-well-duolingo [Accessed 30 May 2025] @MrBeast (Feb 15 2025). [TikTok] https://www.tiktok.com/@mrbeast/video/7471703931735936302?lang=en [Accessed 30 May 2025] Nugent, Annabel (Feb 13 2025). Duo, the Duolingo owl, has ‘died’ - leaving users in mourning (and somewhat relieved). Independent. https:// www.independent.co.uk/life-style/duolingo-owl-mascot-death-duo-tribute-dua-lipa-b2697349.html [Accessed 30 May 2025] Parvez, Zaria (May 13 2025). We killed the owl. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-killed-owl-zaria-parvez-neyfe/ [Accessed 30 May 2025]
27. References Snelling, Grace (Mar 18 2025). Inside Duolingo’s strategy for getting you to learn a new language - or else. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/ 91271109/duolingo-most-innovative-companies-2025 [Accessed 30 May 2025] Snelling, Grace (Apr 10 2025). ‘Dead the sh*t out of it+: How Duolingo scored its most viral hit ever by murdering its mascot. Fast Company. https:// www.fastcompany.com/91313082/duolingo-dead-duo-owl-social-media-campaign [Accessed 30 May 2025] Statista (Feb 2025). Number of daily active Duolingo users worldwide from 3rd quarter 2020 to 4th quarter 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/ 1309604/duolingo-quarterly-dau/ [Accessed 30 May 2025] Stewart, Rebecca (Apr 8 2025). Hi! It’s Duo: The Marketing Strategy Behind the Internet’s Favorite Green Menace. Adweek. https://www.adweek.com/ brand-marketing/duolingo-duo-owl-marketing-strategy/ [Accessed 30 May 2025] Weldon, Casey (Apr 22 2025). Duolingo shares PR secrets of viral ‘Death of Duo’ campaign. PR Daily. https://www.prdaily.com/duolingo-shares-pr- secrets-of-viral-death-of-duo-campaign/ [Accessed 30 May 2025] Young, Gordon (Mar 13 2025). Duolingo’s creative lead on how dead owl stunt became its biggest marketing win yet. The Drum. https:// www.thedrum.com/news/2025/03/13/duolingo-s-creative-lead-how-dead-owl-stunt-became-its-biggest-marketing-win-yet [Accessed 30 May 2025]