A marketing masterclass: Duolingo killed its popular mascot owl to attract more users, and it worked

Imagine waking up to the news that Duo, the cheerful green owl who’s been nagging you to practice Spanish, French, or Swahili, has met a grisly end — flattened by a Cybertruck, no less. That’s exactly what Duolingo, the language-learning app, did in a daring marketing stunt that had users rushing to their phones, not to mourn, but to save their feathered friend. And that’s not even the most bizarre thing! The seemingly crazy move actually worked in favor of the platform.

The campaign kicked off with a dramatic twist. Duolingo’s CEO, Luis von Ahn, posted a TikTok video delivering a mock eulogy for Duo, claiming Elon Musk’s Cybertruck had struck the owl. “Duo’s streak on earth has ended, but not his legacy,” he said, urging users to keep their learning streaks alive to “resurrect” the mascot.

They also shared shared the news on X with the following message:

A website popped up, tracking progress toward bringing Duo back, though it slyly avoided mentioning when the clock would stop ticking. It was absurd, playful, and just cheeky enough to hook millions.

The numbers tell the story. TechCrunch, citing Similarweb, reported a 25% jump in monthly active Android users year-over-year after the stunt. Downloads spiked 38% the day after the campaign launched, and on iOS, daily downloads hit a yearly high of around 172,000 — 15% above the annual average, per Appfigures. For a company built on bite-sized lessons, this was a giant leap in engagement.

What makes this campaign particularly clever is its timing. By claiming Duo was hit by a Cybertruck, Duolingo tapped into the existing public sentiment around Elon Musk’s controversial business empire. As TechCrunch’s Amanda Silberling noted, the stunt gives people “a way to channel their anger at Elon Musk’s empire at a critical time.”

Duolingo even quoted a post from the X account which showed both the Twitter bird and the Owl in heaven, claiming that both were killed by a Cybertruck. This post alone garnered over 525K likes.

While some may roll their eyes at Duolingo’s aggressive engagement tactics, they’re clearly effective. The app that boomed during the pandemic lockdowns has successfully maintained relevance through a combination of meme-worthy marketing and genuinely useful language tools.

The owl might be “dead” for now, but Duolingo’s marketing prowess is very much alive. That said, were you one of the many who flocked to the app to complete your lessons to save the Owl? Let us know in the comments below.