Why A Green Owl Lives Rent Free In My Head

Happy Monday everyone,

First movers today. Let’s get the week set up well for you.

Things I’ve seen this last week

Who would have thought threads is actually killing X? At least in one way.

Is anyone using Reddit to good results? I’ve heard specific industry based AMA’s are killing it.

Why we need to learn as much as possible from Duolingo.

If you haven’t seen what Duolingo is doing, then please, crawl out from under that rock you’re hiding.

Duolingo died, and they held a funeral, and now it’s back. Iknorite? I’m confused too.
It is, in every way, the absurdist marketing I live for.

A quick breakdown to catch you up on everything.

Duolingo has cemented itself as the benchmark for viral content marketing through campaigns that weaponize absurdity and audience participation. Their February 2025 "Death of Duo" stunt - where the brand temporarily "killed" its owl mascot via a Tesla Cybertruck collision video - generated 83 million TikTok views in 72 hours7. This macabre humor, rooted in the mascot’s existing reputation for passive-aggressive notifications ("Spanish or vanish"), triggered cross-platform engagement:

• Over 40 brands, including Doritos and Hilton, created tribute posts using industry-specific puns7

• A companion microsite, Duo Needs Your Help, converted 12% of visitors into daily active users by tying lesson completion to the mascot’s "resurrection"7

• Media coverage from 230+ outlets, including The New York Times, extended reach beyond core demographics4

This campaign builds on Duolingo’s established playbook of "unhinged marketing," which saw a 47% increase in monthly active users (MAUs) between 2023 - 202514. Key elements include:

• Meme Hijacking: Rapid adaptation of trending formats (e.g., Skibidi Toilet parodies) within 24–48 hours of emergence5

• Meta-Humor: Self-aware posts about the owl’s "toxic" relationship with users, acknowledging complaints about notification spam3

• Platform Synergy: Repurposing TikTok content for YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels with platform-native edits (e.g., adding CapCut templates to Reels)5

If you only read one thing this week, it’s the Duolingo Handbook. Not only is it beautifully illustrated, it contains everything they’ve learnt to build a $16B app.

I only hope for the day when all marketing teams can get tens of millions of views by killing their main asset for content.

Catch you tomorrow

✌️ Tim “Does Penfriend need a mascot?” Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

P.S. Back on to LinkedIn this week. This newsletter ain’t gonna build itself 🥲 
And what else? Do I go Twitter? Threads? Bluesky? Where else are you active?