#BS: Owl-standing Verbal ID

Squid Game music videos. Dragging colonizers on TikTok. BBL reveals. Mysterious deaths of chaotic owls. Duolingo is the icon that keeps on giving 👏🏾

Expectedly, the brand’s marketing tactics (and antics) get a lot of attention. But what I haven’t seen getting quite as much love is the masterful voice work.

Every piece of communication I’ve seen from Duolingo is always on-brand, tonally on-point, and appropriate (or inappropriately appropriate) for the moment. If you zoom out, you can almost see how they apply their voice and modulate it across different touchpoints.

For example, their job posts lean more professional (obviously, yay Legal) but they still read with a charming ease; their in-app notifications kick things up a notch and get very playful; their socials though, that's where things get really unhinged in the best way 😂 Still, regardless of platform or context, the content always feels like it’s from the same brand, and works in concert with the other elements—and that’s a sign of some beautiful work beneath the bonnet.

#BrandlySpeaking, Duolingo is a great example of how verbal identity can be more than just a tool for communication. When done+used well, it can supercharge engagement and create powerful brand lore.

PS: RIP Duo, don't come back as a zombie.