Marketing Communications (78/100):
This assignment was to plan an integrated marketing communications campaign for Duolingo, through a 15-minute presentation.
While I'm not part of the app’s target audience and haven’t found it particularly useful for language learning, I'm still a big fan of the brand because of its entertaining communications — I follow them on every social media platform. It’s refreshing to see genuinely funny brand content I actually look forward to engaging with.
I pitched a participation-led campaign to improve Duolingo's brand awareness, engagement and positioning. Although my creative idea (which wasn't required for the assignment) to achieve the strategy took a more philanthropic than humorous angle, it aligned well with Duolingo's values.
Involved: campaign planning, strategy, creative ideation, setting and evaluating objectives.
Highlights:
1. Segmentation
2. Brand Positioning
3. Creative Approach
4. Messaging Strategy
01
SEGMENTATION
The ideal target market for Duolingo would be Gen Z students (ages 16-24) – an age group representing 25% of Duolingo’s user base.
They are distinct in their online behaviours and cultural influence, accessible online (spending approximately three hours daily on social media), and measurable through online analytics.
This is Duolingo's largest and fastest-growing user segment, so whilst their purchasing power is still developing, they are most profitable to target through cost-effective social media channels.
This demographic is the most highly engaged with technology and education and values accessible, flexible learning, aligning well with Duolingo’s educational app format.
02
BRAND POSITIONING
Duolingo’s brand positioning is accessibility, rooted in its USP, since it offers the most language courses at the lowest cost among competitors. This aligns with its mission to “develop the best education in the world and make it universally available.”
However, applying Keller’s brand equity pyramid reveals a gap between this mission and current customer perceptions, which emphasise Duolingo as "free and fun" – more personally rather than universally accessible.
Reiterating universality would build stronger emotional connections as it expands BEYOND the sense of self.
To strengthen emotional connections and resonate with Gen Z, I recommend that Duolingo emphasize universal accessibility through more diversity-focused, inclusive messaging in communications to enhance brand equity.
03
CREATIVE APPROACH
The organising idea to reiterate this positioning and drive the campaign will be ‘Education for All’. to launch on International Mother Language Day. This aligns with Duolingo's mission of universal accessibility, and leverages values of inclusion to resonate with Gen Z.
This strategy involves a participatory competition, inviting fans to submit creative works featuring Duolingo’s mascot in any media of their choice for a chance to win foreign exchange scholarships – with half the places reserved for minority students.
Instructions will emphasise unique, creative and entertaining entries, and winners will then be displayed on owned channels.
This intends to generate UGC and earned media through engagement and social media sharing, and heighten user engagement with the brand.
04
MESSAGING STRATEGY
Communication channels primarily focus on Instagram, Tiktok and Youtube, as these have the highest engagement and time spent within the target segment. These visually driven platforms will host video ads and visual competition entries, directing traffic to owned channels through URLs.
While TikTok and Instagram have limited cognitive depth, Twitter and Facebook can support text-based entries and sharing.
To enhance trust, PR efforts will engage influencers and diverse universities, maintaining cohesion with hashtags and linked URLs.
