Campaign:「デュオどすこい相撲大会」
Client: Duolingo | 2025 | Social Contents & Event Production
Event Recap
About: (From Press Release)
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Ad Nut has seen many things in advertising: detergent mascots that look like nightmare fuel, brands mistaking purpose for personality, and humans attempting to sell “intimacy underwear” that doubles as Netflix. But even Ad Nut was not prepared for the sight of Duolingo’s deranged green owl attempting to sumo-wrestle Sonic the Hedgehog. Yes, reader. This is real life. Or at least as real as anything involving a six-foot-tall corporate bird can be.
Creative arm UltraSuperNew and production house Tetsudau decided that the best way to promote a language app was to plop its mascot into a faux-grand sumo ring against the biggest names in Japanese brand iconography—Pac-Man, Donpen, Ponta, and others who frankly did not sign up to be body-slammed by a sociopathic avian. Titled Duo’s Sumo Showdown, the work “aims to raise Duolingo Japan’s profile” by leaning into the country’s yuru-kyara obsession.
Ad Nut admires Japan’s weird and wonderful mascot culture and gets the hype behind the popularity of Hello Kitty, Doraemon, and Pikachu. But Duolingo’s owl is not cute. Duo is an unhinged reminder app with the soul of a debt collector: "Finish your Spanish lesson or else”. Ad Nut has long suspected that if users do not finish their Spanish lessons, Duo will appear at the window with a baseball bat. So, of course, the next logical step was sumo.
Read more at: https://www.campaignasia.com/video/duolingos-owl-takes-on-japans-beloved-mascots-in-sumo-showdown/504835
▼ Pre-Event Contents:
Campaign: "Krispy Fried Duo (KFD)"
Client: Duolingo | 2023 | Event Production & Tie-Up
Event Recap
About: (From Press Release)
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Consistency is key when learning a language; that's why Duolingo doesn't spare any effort in reminding its learners to do their lessons every single day.
Unfortunately, during the holiday season when exciting plans with friends and family mean push notifications are ignored, reminder emails are left unread, and taking daily language lessons fall low down on the list of priorities. So, when the global language learning app decided to find a fun way to remind everyone to do their lessons during the holiday season, creative agency UltraSuperNew turned to one of Japan's most puzzling Christmas traditions: having a bucket of fried chicken as a Christmas Eve meal (it's so popular that supplies will sell out weeks in advance of the 24th December).
Krispy Fried Duo (KFD) is a delicious alternative to the traditional fried chicken bucket, made (supposedly) with actual parts from Duolingo's mascot owl, Duo. Making the ultimate sacrifice, Duo volunteered his tastiest and greenest pieces, had them chopped, deep-fried, and placed inside a KFD (Krispy Fried Duo) bucket, and offered them to those exemplary learners that completed their lessons even on Christmas Eve.
The campaign started as an influencer-led push in the week leading up to December 24th. TikTok and X posts showed a series of entertaining content launching Duo's lightbulb moment in offering Krispy Fried Duo to those in need of fried delights.
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Press Release: Link