Duolingo turned its green owl into a cultural character through deliberately comical and bizarre social videos that prioritized entertainment over direct language instruction. The social approach originated with Zaria Parvez, who joined in 2020 as the sole social media manager and later revealed herself as the voice behind the owl. Social followers exploded across platforms: Instagram from 300,000 to 4.6 million, Twitter from 370,000 to 1 million, and TikTok from 35,000 to 16.7 million. Parvez left after a period of strong financial performance, and the case demonstrates that achieving similar results requires a clear strategic destination rather than copying surface tactics.
The company's green owl mascot became one of the internet's main characters, reaching another stratosphere of cultural ubiquity as it starred in increasingly comical, even bizarre, videos. The content had little-if anything-to do with Duolingo's actual business of encouraging people to learn a foreign language, but struck a chord, becoming the model for a whole new school of thought: unhinged marketing.
That strategy all came from a single employee: Zaria Parvez. After graduating from college in 2020, Parvez joined Duolingo as its sole social media manager and remained a one-woman team until last year. Parvez, who publicly revealed herself as the social mind behind the owl a year into the schtick, announced on LinkedIn earlier this week that she was leaving Duolingo, just after the company reported 41 percent revenue growth and record profits in the second quarter.
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