Duolingo played on the name of Apple's new foldable smartphone, the iPhone Duo: its mascot, the green owl Duo, handed out apples to passersby outside the flagship Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York.
The owl wore a dark blue T-shirt resembling the uniform of Apple Store staff. Next to it stood a cargo bike with a box labeled "Apple Duo" holding Granny Smith apples. Each fruit had a sticker reminding people to finish a lesson in the Duolingo app.
Behind the mascot, posters on construction barriers mimicked Apple's minimalist advertising style. They showed an open iPhone Duo under the slogan "This is Duo": the owl was drawn from behind, looking over its shoulder, with the phone's hinge running down the center of the image.
The campaign is built on a name coincidence and on the buzz around the new device. It fits the guerrilla marketing format: an unplanned activation in public space for passersby, tied to someone else's news hook. How long the stunt lasted and how many apples were handed out has not been reported.
