1

Strategic Message Planner: Duolingo

Advertising Goal:
Duolingo aims to increase their brand awareness and gain new users who want to learn new
languages through their app and website.

Client: Key Facts

1. Duolingo is a free language learning platform that you can use from your phone through
their app or on your computer through their website.
2. Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker co-founded Duolingo in 2011. Luis is the CEO and
Severin is the CTO.
3. Luis is a 45-year-old entrepreneur and consulting professor who has won the MacArthur
Fellowship award and the Grace Murray Hopper Award.
4. Severin is a 39-year-old computer scientist who received the Crunchie Award for Best
Startup in 2014.
5. Duolingo launched as a private beta on November 27, 2011. They initially started with
only six languages to choose to learn from.
6. The language learning platform opened to the public on June 19, 2012, with over 300,000
people on the waiting list.
7. On 28 June 2021, Duolingo went public and filed for an IPO (Initial Public Offering) on
Nasdaq (Stock exchange) using the ticker symbol DUOL.
8. Duolingo acquired Gunner on October 4, 2022. Gunner is a design and animation studio
that is based in Detroit.
9. There are currently up to 40 languages Duolingo offers for their users to learn.
10. Along with the different languages they offer, Duolingo also has courses in math and
music.
11. Over 500 million registered users, and 37 million of those are monthly active users.
Key Insight
Co-founders Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker understand the importance of creating a language
learning platform that is available for everyone around the world.

Product: Key Features

What is the product?
1. Duolingo is a learning program that users can access from their mobile app or website.
2. Duolingo is free to use and also has in-app purchases.
3. Duolingo offers courses in over 40 languages.
4. Duolingo uses personalized learning so every user can learn at their own pace.
5. Duolingo uses a gamified approach to keep people engaged and entertained.
 2

6. Duolingo has badges and milestones to keep users motivated.

What is the purpose of the product?
1. The purpose of Duolingo is to provide the best language learning experience for every
user around the world.
2. With bite-size lessons, you can learn at your own pace and stay motivated.
3. Studies show that you can learn as much as 5 semesters of university instruction in just 5
sections of Duolingo. (Duolingo)
What is the product made of?
1. Duolingo has small courses that are interactive, covering basic vocab and small
conversation starters.
2. Duolingo has lessons that are gamified that make the learning experience fun and
entertaining and most of all engaging.
3. Duolingo courses use AI and learning science to personalize your learning experiences.
4. Duolingo tracks users' progress and offers assistance to help motivate and keep users on
track of their courses.
Who and What Made and Distributed the Product?
1. Award winning duo Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker co-founded Duolingo.
2. Luis saw firsthand how expensive it was for people in his Guatemala community to learn
English and Severin believed that free education would change the world. Together they
created Duolingo that provided a learning experience they aimed for.
3. The mobile app is available on both android and iPhone. You can even access your
course materials through their website.
4. The most popular countries that use Duolingo are the United States, Canada, UK,
Australia, Ireland, China, Japan, Qatar, Thailand, and European countries.
Key Insight
Duolingo makes language learning fun and engaging. They take on a gamified approach to
learning languages with their different learning levels along with their daily streaks and learning
badges. They even have leaderboards where you can compete with friends and other users.

Marketplace Trends
1. As of 2021, Duolingo was responsible for 64% of all language app installations, which
made it the most widely used software in the language learning market. (seeking alpha).
2. In 2020 Duolingo received a total of 500 million downloads, and in 2021 they received
another 75 million downloads. Since 2017 the number of downloads annually has nearly
tripled, and the number continues to gradually increase with each new year.
3. Most of the social media traffic Duolingo sees comes from YouTube with 53% of the
share of traffic, followed by Facebook and Twitter.
 3

4. Most countries use 50/50 desktop and mobile devices, except Brazil, and Spain, which
mostly use mobile over desktop devices. (Semrush)
5. The most popular courses Duolingo offers is the English for Spanish speakers and the
Spanish for English speakers.
Key Insight
The language learning market is growing and will continue to do so with Duolingo lingo being in
the forefront of that charge.

Target Audience: Demographics, Psychographics and Behaviors

The primary target audience for this ad is any male or female from the age range of 16-22 years
old who wish to learn a second language. However, the target audience could be on a range from
young users to old users, because with Duolingo learning is for everyone. They are typically
students who want to perfect their language skills or expand them into another language, or it
could be anyone with free time that wants to be able to improve their language skills. Duolingo is
for people who prefer the gamified learning experience over the traditional method of teaching.
Demographics
1. The largest age group that uses Duolingo is 18 to 24 year-olds.
2. With the target audience being the younger generation, it is safe to say that most users are
in high school or college with part time jobs. Their incomes are most likely not so
immense, considering they are young and are students still.
3. From the research done over Duolingo users by gender, the ratio between male and
female users are almost splitting 50/50 with the majority tilting towards female users with
50.09% compared to males with 49.91%.
4. The United States is the top country with Duolingo users being 25.07%, they are by far
the most users by country with 144.1 million. Trailing behind the United States with the
second most users by country is Brazil being responsible for 6.52% of users being at 37.4
million.
5. Overall Duolingo is used by people of all ages, gender, and locations. However, the most
common users are young people, especially in Gen Z.
Psychographics
1. Members of this target audience typically want to learn another language because they
want to expand their language skills and others want to learn a new language for career
advancement.
2. During the pandemic many Duolingo users found themselves at home with more time to
spare. This is when Duolingo became very popular and it’s where they gained a lot of
consumers.
3. The lifestyles of Duolingo users are people who enjoy a challenge but also want their
learning experience to be fun and entertaining. These people are often on the go which is
 4

why most users enjoy using the mobile app to learn. The goals and values of these users
are all the same, they value learning and want to achieve their goal of learning a new
language.
4. Another key ingredient that most users value is that the Duolingo Language program is
completely free. Although there are some in-app purchasing options, they are not
necessary for people to get the most out of this free app. Users value the fact that the app
offers free education that is beneficial to their lives and mental health.
5. With most people using this as a learning tool, some users use the app as a game to
compete with friends. This goes along with the competitive lifestyle of most young
people in today's time.
Behaviors
1. The main behavior Duolingo users have is that they are motivated to learn a new
language and they are dedicated to stay on track of their course.
2. They are disciplined and persistent, these users need to have these qualities because it’s
the sure way they will see results from their courses.
3. They are advocates for sticking to a daily schedule. Duolingo has a feature that sends you
a notification to remind you to complete your daily lesson. This is beneficial for users
because it keeps them on their schedule for learning.
4. They love to stay in order and on track. When using the app, it puts users learning lessons
in order by difficulty and users find this very useful.
5. Most users of the target audience don’t know a second language and desire to learn one.
Key Insight
These people are on the go learners and aspire to learn a new language at their own pace.

Product Benefits
1. Duolingo courses are designed to meet your needs and specialize in creating lessons that
fit your knowledge and pace of learning.
2. Duolingo is affordable for anyone because the app is free. The app has in app purchases
that users can buy if they want but aren’t a necessity.
3. Duolingo lessons are fun and engaging thanks to their gamified and interactive approach.
They even have cool little animated characters that help users learn.
4. Duolingo lessons have been shown to be effective. You will be able to learn basic
grammar of the language of your choice and more.
5. Duolingo is convenient for users that want to learn little bits at a time and at their own
pace.

Direct Competitors and Brand Images

Direct competitors are other language learning platforms.
 5

1. Babble
 Babble is a language learning company based out of Germany, with 14 different
languages to learn.
 Babble is free but they also offer multiple subscription services with their lowest
being $14.95 a month on their website. However, their base price for a mobile user
is $17.99.
 They also offer live virtual classes that are taught by language teachers. These
classes are available at different times throughout the day and on different levels as
well.
 Babble experts even post videos that help with language learning. Also, they have
a podcast where their language experts reveal secret tactics to learning languages.
 They offer gamified lessons and personalized lessons that keep their users
engaged.
 In 2023, Babble was ranked as the world's #1 most innovative company in
education by Fast Company Magazine.
2. Rosetta Stone
 Rosetta Stone is a language learning company that was founded in 1992, with over
25 different languages to learn.
 Rosetta stone has a free version users can use, and they also have a variety of
subscription services that users can decide to purchase if they see fit, with their
lowest one costing $15.99 per month.
 Rosetta stone has courses that are tailored to the user's native language by their
experts.
 They also use a gamified approach to their lessons that keep their users engaged
and entertained while learning the language of their choice.
 They offer additional resources such as live online classes, and they even have a
podcast you can listen to that will enhance your learning experience.
 Like most language apps they also use videos and audio clips to help users grasp
on to the desired language better. They also have interactive activities that keep
users engaged and mentally active.
3. Memrise
 Memrise is a language learning platform that was founded in 2010, with courses in
over 22 languages.
 They offer free services on both mobile devices and desktop computers. They also
have a couple of subscription services with their lowest standard one costing $8.49
per month.
 Like most language learning programs, they also include interactive activities and
a gamified approach such as leaderboards and challenges.
 Memrise has a feature where users can continue to learn offline when they don’t
have any internet connection.
 Another unique feature they have is that users can create their own courses and
share them with other users.
 6

Indirect Competitors and Brand Images

1. Bilingual individuals
 People who are fluent in two languages don’t often desire to learn a new language.
 Individuals who can speak two languages often do so for work and social life and
they don’t need to necessarily learn a third language.
2. High School and College Language Courses
 Most education students often must complete a language course in high school and
even college as a prerequisite to graduating.
 Students that take language courses in an educational setting don’t necessarily
need to use an app like Duolingo because they are already learning in the
classroom. However, some students do continue to use Duolingo as a way to
enhance their language skills.

Product Brand Image

 Current brand image: Duolingo is the number one leading language platform that is fun,
accessible, and effective.
 Desired brand image: Duolingo wants to be seen as an inclusive company that allows
their users to learn easily.
 Brand image challenge: Challenges that could come about would be to keep their
gamified and fun engaging tactics without losing their effectiveness.

Strategic Message: The Promise

Duolingo allows you to learn any language of your chooosing at your own pace with their fun
and engaging courses.

Supporting Evidence: The Proof

1. Duolingo is easily accessible being that their app and website is free to use for their basic
courses.
2. Duolingo has over 500 million registered users, showing that they have a massive
audience and will continue to grow.
3. Duolingo offers up to 40 languages for users to learn from which gives a broad range for
their consumers to choose from.
4. Duolingo uses a gamified approach to their courses which makes them fun and engaging
for users.

Tone
 7

Fun, accessible, and encouraging. Duolingo courses are created to help enhance their user's
language skills while being supportive, consistent and reliable.
Source Page

Duolingo user statistics for 2023

https://www.usesignhouse.com/blog/duolingo-stats#in-which-countries-is-duolingo-available

Duolingo information and facts

https://www.duolingo.com

Duolingo statistics
https://zipdo.co/statistics/duolingo-user/

Babble information and facts

https://www.babbel.com/