TAKE MATTERS INTO YOUR HANDS
On grabbing opportunities
If you’ve ever attempted to learn a language online, you’d have come across DUOLINGO.
And if you’ve used the app even once (or you’re a drop out like some of us), you’d have certainly met the DUOLINGO OWL - that bird that tells you it misses you and all that stuff.
Now, if there’s one thing businesses do to grow, it is to run ads. But that’s inorganic and not sustainable for the long run.
Organic building is always recommended because it brings traffic without cost.
Most businesses run both of them, which is also good.
But speaking of Duolingo, after spending millions for a 5 second ad of a cheeky shot of Duo’s backside, they pulled a stunt.
They KILLED the OWL and if you’re really a follower, you’d know that they built their whole brand personality around that owl.
The stunt was that it was hit by a Tesla Cybertruck with him rising to the gates of hell and X’s in his eyes.
The company posted it like breaking news with authorities “investigating” and all.
They even asked people not to share why they hated him, but if they did, to attach their card number “for Duolingo Max in his memory.”
Duolingo’s own CEO, Luis von Ahn, also recorded a eulogy on TikTok.
By the next morning, the World Health Organization was posting condolences.
Netflix was mourning him.
Dua Lipa even posted a broken heart, referencing her own crossover with the bird months earlier.
Chipotle, Cheez-Its, Baskin Robbins, Grindr, all showed up to the funeral.
However, two weeks later, they brought him back.
On February 24, a figure in a green owl suit burst out of a coffin on camera.
Users had spent two weeks completing lessons and guarding their streaks to earn enough points to "revive" him.
Five countries - the US, Germany, Brazil, China, India - got crowned as the ones who saved his life.
The Lesson
What Duolingo pulled off is called Channel Optimisation, and it’s the most misunderstood growth path there is.
Most people hear “channel” and they think distribution.
Like where do I sell, where do I advertise, which platform, which store, which billboard…..
Duolingo already tried the expensive version with the Super Bowl. So they had to switch method and moved to TikTok where they built an organic following with their actual audience - young people online who are addicted to their phones and this platform.
AND YEAH, TIKTOK COST THEM NOTHING TO OWN.
The Cybertruck stunt alone pulled in over a billion social impressions.
YES, A BILLION!
Android active users jumped 25% year over year in the weeks after.
Downloads spiked……
And searches for “Duolingo” jumped 58%.
AND THIS IS THE CRAZIEST PART OF THE STORY
None of it came from a media buy.
They were all the idea of a 23-year-old who saw an opportunity and grabbed it.
The Person Behind It
In 2021, Zaria Parvez was a fresh college graduate who noticed Duolingo had a TikTok account with about 50,000 followers just sitting there.
Boldly, she asked if she could post to it.
Nobody at the company had a plan for what that account should be.
So she built one.
She led with Duo as an unhinged, slightly threatening internet creator, not a sanitized brand mascot.
Posted videos of him flirting with Dua Lipa, trend-jacking Squid Game, replying to comments….
AND NOW?
That account now sits north of 16 million followers.
That’s channel optimization.
And sometimes, that’s all a business needs to go next level.
Your WhatsApp status, your Instagram page, your email list, your own two hands need to start being treated with formality, because it’s an actual business stage.
And if you’re an opportunist, open your eyes and grab anyone you see by the scruff of the neck.
DON’T WAIT!!!
Com toda a humildade,
Precious Christopher
Marketing Psychology Analyst
Brilliant and brilliant and brilliant.
How you identify and find these things remain a mystery to me.
This is gold