Duolingo owl joins Angry Birds in marketing crossover

Feb 18, 2020 | Content marketing, Marketing through gaming, Mobile, Online advertising, Online video, Viral and buyrals

Duolingo owl joins Angry Birds in marketing crossover
Duolingo has teamed up with gaming company Rovio to put its language teaching owl into Angry Birds.

Under the deal, Red from Angry Birds 2 will appear alongside Duo – the passive aggressive owl that reminds you to take your lessons and congratulates you when you learn – in Duolingo’s app of the year winning iOS and Android apps while Duo will appear as a new spell in Angry Birds 2.

The collaboration will be available globally and last for a month.

To highlight the crossover Duolingo will launch this video that sees Duo and Red wreak havoc and smash up a NYC bar when one of the patrons neglects to complete his Duolingo lesson.

The video follows on from last year’s April Fools video, Duolingo Push, that embraced memes created by the Duolingo community showing how Duo pursues people to complete their lessons.

Colin Watkins, Country Manager U.K. at Duolingo, said: “How often do you get to bring together two iconic characters like this in such a fun way? It’s been a pleasure working with Rovio to bring this crossover to life and we hope the millions of Duolingo and Angry Bird fans out there will find it fun and provide them with more encouragement to keep learning.”

In the Duolingo App…

Mid-lesson appearance

In the current app experience Duo appears in the middle of lessons to offer encouragement to learners as they progress. During the Duolingo x Angry Birds 2 crossover, Duo will appear with Red and engage in a humorous dialogue encouraging learners to keep up the great work.

Reward Video

During the month-long crossover period, a portion of the rewarded video placements on Duolingo will feature an Angry Birds 2 video ad that introduces users to the newest version of the famous slingshot game. At the end of the video, Duolingo users will have the option to download the Angry Birds 2 game.

In the Angry Birds 2 App

Branded Spell:

Angry Birds 2 is the sequel to Angry Birds, one of the biggest mobile games of all time. During the crossover, the Duolingo owl mascot (Duo) will be offered as a branded spell during regular gameplay in AB2. Users will have the opportunity to put Duo in the slingshot and rain down destruction.

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