Manu Orssaud on marketing campaigns
From Axios’ Eleanor Hawkins in conversation with Duolingo’s Manu Orssaud · · Axios
“We change our app icon about three or four times a year because people who haven't been on Duolingo for a while, if they see that the app icon has changed and it's weird, they will click on it and then get back into their lesson. This time we had the idea of doing a dead face Duo, creating a story about Duo dying, being killed by a cyber truck. The goal was 30 million views for this campaign and we ended up with 1.7 billion views for this entire activation.”
On , Manu Orssaud, Chief Marketing Officer at DUOLINGO INC, spoke about marketing campaigns during Axios’ Eleanor Hawkins in conversation with Duolingo’s Manu Orssaud on Axios.
About Manu Orssaud
Manu Orssaud, chief marketing officer at Duolingo, discussed the company’s marketing strategy in two recent appearances. At an Axios Live event on July 17, 2025, he described how the Duolingo owl mascot gained fame through push notifications and user-generated content, leading to guerrilla marketing stunts such as appearing at a Charli XCX concert. Orssaud said the company spends about 6% of revenue on marketing and aims to “surprise and be in places that you don't expect us to be.” He also noted that the brand changes its app icon several times a year to re-engage lapsed users, citing a “dead face Duo” campaign that generated 1.7 billion views. In a September 17, 2024 interview, Orssaud said Duolingo’s first Super Bowl ad would be a five-second spot intended to create a “WTF moment.” He discussed the company’s use of AI, including a new tier called Duolingo Max that uses OpenAI’s GPT-4 to mimic a real-life tutor, and a data scraper that identifies trends from TikTok hashtags. Orssaud stated that AI is used to augment human work rather than replace it, and that the brand treats its mascot as a “Creator” with its own personality across social platforms. He cited his previous roles at Spotify and PlayStation as examples of building community-driven brands.