Task 1: Art Direction Campaign Analysis

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Art imitating life is something we’ve seen time and time again throughout history. Be it in the ‘We Want You’ campaign of the Second World War, to the ‘Got Milk?’ advertisements of the painfully self-aware 90s, societal cultures and generational impact have helped shape the narrative of how companies use their platforms to communicate the right tone. This has become even more apparent in the 21st century, with brands relying on shortform content due to an increase of the use of social media. This paired with what can only be described as ‘meme culture’, has left many brands creating overexaggerated personas to advertise their products. One of the best examples of this, is with the brand Duolingo (Duolingo, 2026).

Visual that would appear on the Duolingo app during the ‘Death of Duo’ Campaign (Duolingo, 2026).

Duolingo (Duolingo, 2026) is a language learning app fueled by the shenanigans of the company’s mascot Duo the owl. Since its launch in 2011, the company has always been a supporter of the weirder side of internet culture. Initially introduced through the apps notification system, with Duo passive aggressively nudging users into taking their lessons. Since then, the company has only expanded on this, using social media to show consistency in their products’ personality. One of the most iconic ways they went about establishing their notoriety was with the brands campaign to kill Duo. Coming at this from the perspective of an art director, it’s clear to see how visual representation was crucial to this campaign’s success. Features such as Xs on the owl’s eyes, tributes in honor of Duo and even an over-exaggerated cause of death, all aided in setting a specific visual style and comedic tone that aligned well with the brands persona.

Statistic showing the 116,383 increase in follows with the ‘Death of Duo’ Campaign (Sarah R, 2025).

Before the ‘Death of Duo’ campaign in 2025, statistics showed that Gen Z and Millennials, constituted around 60% of the app’s daily users (Porter’s, 2025). In order to capitalize on this market, the campaign utilized Instagram and TikTok, using every touchpoint as a way to control the narrative. Though what really gave this campaign wings (pun intended) with this demographic was outside brand engagement. Industry giants X and Netflix hopped onto the conversation surrounding the campaign and “When serious businesses break their usual routine to join in on a joke, it grabs attention in a truly unique way” (Sarah R, 2025). An increased following wasn’t the only benefit, with the brands app getting a huge influx of engagement too. On the release day alone, the app had an increase of 116,383 users (Sarah R, 2025). This was thanks to a creative decision made by the companies AD, who created in-app goals to ‘Bring Duo Back’. Whilst this campaign was a success, that still didn’t stop some demographics from being ‘left out of the joke’. Poor Boomers were ignored, with platforms such as Facebook getting zero content related to the campaign. Even harsher when taking into consideration the post sharing features linking Instagram to Facebook.

Images showing the different companies that responded to duo’s death, solidifying how impactful the campaign was (Sarah R, 2025).

Overall, if I were to address this campaign as an Art Director, there are only a few minor changes I would make. The most noteworthy being the commitment to the bit. Whilst the campaign was still incredibly on-brand and recognizable for Duolingo (Duolingo, 2026), I feel as though the visual narrative could have been pushed further. Whilst Duo being killed by a Cybertruck was funny, it still felt predictable. Despite this fault, I still feel as though this campaign truly is a masterclass in modern marketing.

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