Duolingo’s ‘Squid Game’ campaign with Netflix stars Duo the Owl as a Pink Guard

UPDATE: Below is the new music video for the campaign, released Wednesday. Original story is below. Duo the Owl is once again making his subtle threats to learn a language—this time, Korean—in a campaign launched with Netflix in time for the season 2 premiere of “Squid Game” on Dec. 26. “Learn Korean or Else” launched Tuesday (Dec. 10) to motivate people globally to learn Korean and gain a greater appreciation for the series. The campaign, led by Duolingo’s in-house creative team, kicked off with a humorous teaser video of Duo the Owl in the iconic “Squid Game” costume, dressed as a Pink Guard. As in the series’ challenges, Duo isn’t afraid to raise the stakes. As part of the campaign, Duolingo is adding over 40 keywords and phrases from the show to its Korean course. Out-of-home ads place the green mascot in scenes from the show as a Pink Guard. According to Duolingo, Duo will strongly encourage fans take their lessons—or face the consequences—by chasing down users in videos or appearing at fan events and on billboards. For instance, Duolingo and Netflix are taking over Koreatown billboards in Los Angeles and New York City with cryptic Korean messages challenging viewers to “Learn Korean to stay safe.” As a live stunt, Duo and his Pink Guards will take over Netflix’s Sunset Boulevard billboard to replace the English words with Korean. A team of Duo-masked Pink Guards will march down Sunset Boulevard on Tuesday morning, lining up in front of the Netflix billboard. Then, Duo’s van will arrive, and he will hop out and direct the Duo Pink Guards to climb up and change the language on the billboard from English to Korean. “We saw a 40% increase in Korean learners just after “Squid Game” season 1, underscoring the powerful connection between entertainment, culture and language learning,” said Manu Orssaud, chief marketing officer of Duolingo. “This campaign allows us to continue that momentum in a way only Duolingo can—with humor, intensity and a bit of chaos! We hope fans will accept Duo’s challenge to learn Korean and immerse themselves in the experience.” In addition to the teaser and the OOH activations, Duolingo and Netflix’s music lab team created a K-pop remix of the ominous song, “Pink Guards,” now available on Spotify. The track, “Korean or Get Eaten,” uses a naming convention Duolingo employs for its music tracks to playfully threaten learners to do their lessons. The lyrics, performed in both English and Korean, spotlight the recognizable Red Light, Green Light game played in “Squid Game” and feature “hidden” threats in Korean, such as “Don’t you wanna survive?” and “Hurry up and memorize it.” Duolingo and Netflix also created an extended music video for the song, directed by Warren Fu and choreographed by award-winning dancer and choreographer Sean Bankhead. In it, Duo leads a dance routine with guards in a K-pop remix of “Squid Game’s” “Pink Guards” as they chase a learner who forgot to complete their Korean lesson. The videos will air across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Lastly, a TikTok filter, inspired by the show’s Red Light, Green Light game, will let users test their Korean skills with voice-activated challenges featuring Duo as the show’s menacing doll in the pink suit. The campaign comes as “Squid Game” seasons 2 premieres just after Christmas, a long-anticipated release following the show’s success in 2021. Created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, “Squid Game” became Netflix’s most popular title ever, boosting interest in K-content and making Emmy history with first-ever wins for a non-English language series. It also sparked a slew of brand collaborations and memes, allowing brands to engage the series’ fandom. More Creativity coverage from Ad Age: Sign up for our daily Creativity newsletter to see the best stories of the day.

Duolingo’s ‘Squid Game’ campaign with Netflix stars Duo the Owl as a Pink Guard

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