Last year’s April Fools’ campaign—a four-hour “skate dancing extravaganza” akin to the Ice Capades—gets an Easter egg-style shout in today’s video as part of Duolingo World Cruise’s on-board entertainment. (It’s no wonder the brand wanted to remind consumers of the stunt. Its video announcement snagged 80 million organic views and wide press coverage, according to Orssaud).
“My favorite part of the exercise is that the sky is seriously the limit. No idea is off the table. We can go crazier than we would for a normal campaign because, ultimately, it’s pretend,” Orssaud wrote on LinkedIn. “We don’t actually have to follow through and produce a whole TV show or an ice-dancing tour; all we have to do is make a fun commercial for it.”
For Duolingo World Cruise, which came from the brand’s in-house team, the partners plan to release behind-the-scenes snippets on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and X, along with social posts, memes, and influencer content. An out-of-home buy will take over the NASDAQ billboard in New York’s Times Square.