Duolingo's 'Death of the Owl' Campaign is the most riskiest campaign in recent times. Here is the short overview of what's the campaign is about, Duolingo announced that their OWL mascot is hitted to d*ad by a tesla cyber truck. So they encouraged users to maintain their streak to help to solve the Owl's case and revive the owl. The campaign worked pretty well, - Campaign reached 2 million + eyeballs in YouTube - 500K+ Reddit discussions about the campaign - Mainstream media Like BBC covered this incident - 300% Increase in their merchandise sales - Made many global brands to react to their campaign in socials. - App Improved 15 spots in the education category. When they announced this campaign, I guessed that this campaign will face some serious backlashes, but though it faced , it's not serious as I expected. You see, Duolingo's mascot is something more than a normal mascot, It has some emotionally deep connection with their audience. So, this campaign created emotional backlash among many users who had a deeper connection with that mascot. 32% of people surveyed reported emotional manipulation and distrust over a brand. Many users complained that this campaign is way too long (3 weeks). Edgy campaigns grab attention, but alienating core audiences can backfire sometimes. It's always important to plan the campaigns extra careful when a people have some deep connection with your brand. Also, by seeing this campaign, we can understand that Genz loves marketing campaigns that have deep connection and dark humor in it. What's your take on this campaign?
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