How Duolingo Earned 40 Million Social Impressions Thanks to America’s Favorite Cookie

Duolingo has built a global following by making language learning feel less like homework and more like a game you’re oddly invested in winning.

And at the center of it all is Duo — that ever-present green owl who’s become a full-blown cultural character, famous for his relentless encouragement, meme-able antics, and uncanny ability to reappear the second you skip a day. (Oops, not again!)

In addition to 40+ languages, the brand also speaks fluent internet, blending humor, personality, and gentle digital-to-IRL reminders that keeps millions of language learners coming back daily. So when Duolingo itself decides to show up in the physical world, its creative has to follow suit: feeling just as immersive and unmistakable as its digital side.

But as anyone who’s tried learning a new language on their own will tell you, it's always easier in theory than in practice…

Duolingo isn’t an app that’s exactly struggling for recognition. In fact, it has held onto its reign as the most downloaded educational app worldwide for several years now, with little competition on the digital horizon.

But that savvy owl isn’t merely looking for downloads. It’s playing a long game with new and recurring users alike, which requires thoughtfully done national mass awareness campaigns, with a sharpened dual edge: Re-engaging users who had ghosted their daily language lessons and nudging new learners to start now.

The challenge was breaking through in a way that felt playful, snappy, user-relevant, and unmistakably still Duolingo. All without sounding like yet another reminder notification guilting you into habit-formation. (The app is already plenty known for those...)

To supercharge mass awareness across two key groups, Duolingo vetted several creative partners before shaking hands with OpenFortune.

The pair locked in on promoting language learning in celebration of the incoming Lunar New Year — a moment fitting the language platform yet already rich with symbolism, tradition, and of course, fortune cookies.

OpenFortune got to work producing and distributing 500,000 cookies nationally, each one engineered to feel like a direct message from the iconic Duo himself. The details were hard to mis-translate:

1. Front Slips: Ultra-mysterious fortunes, cryptic enough to spark genuine curiosity, but strange enough to feel slightly…mystical (in the most Duolingo way possible).

2. Back Slips, in a 3-part punch:

   1. Friendly-but-firm reminders to complete your daily language lesson.

   2. A clever subversion of expected “Learn Chinese” tropes, even ones previously tried and associated with the app.

   3. Actual Mandarin words and characters, turning the cookie into a real micro-learning moment perfect for the brand.

For Duolingo, it was an all-roads-lead-to-learning fusion. The campaign:

• Extended Duo’s digital personality into the physical world with a consistently same tone and same playful chaos, but wrapped in a new medium.

• Transformed a passive treat into an interactive, “non-nagging” reminder.

• Made learning feel cultural, timely, and delightfully welcome.

OpenFortune didn’t just help Duolingo come up with a quirky campaign. We helped activate measurable brand-boosting behavior, online and IRL. Because the internet got to work doing what the internet does best — and then some:

• 40M+ social impressions, with 2.5M from a single post alone.

  • TikTok creator @charkaylotte (who admits her videos typically pull in ~500-1,000 views) cracked open a Duolingo cookie. Inside, she was delighted by her fortune cookie’s tone, one she already recognized as a Duolingo user — playful, persistent, and maybe just a tad scolding.
    

  • Her caption “Duolingo is out to get me!” quickly wracked up 2.5 million views and over 500k likes. It launched an army of influencers sharing similar posts, equally surprised and delighted by the relevant creative.

But the fun (and full-funnel targeting) didn’t stop there:

• Consumers were 15.5% more likely to use Duolingo when learning a new language.

• 39% started conversations about Duolingo and their surprising fortune cookies.

This kind of virality doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the perfect storm of surprise, savvy, solid cultural timing, and seriously thoughtful brand consistency. You know, the kind other brands cough up hundreds of thousands a year to generate, but you spark all on your own.

By turning a fortune cookie into a learning prompt — and a social moment — OpenFortune helped Duolingo remind the world that language learning doesn’t have to be boring. It’s connective, energizing, and dare we say even inspiring?

Sometimes, all that happens from a little cookie…and an owl who refuses to let you forget about him.