When my team at The Agency cooked up the idea of promoting Duolingo to Gen Z through a partnership with Pokémon Go, we knew we had to lean into the chaos. As creepy as that green owl is, nothing makes you want to practice your French quite like a threatening notification.

Our vision? Gamify language learning by merging the two worlds. Imagine the Duolingo owl popping up as a wild “Pokémon” you need to “catch” by completing language challenges. Or Pikachu teaching you a lesson.

Through memes, interactive gameplay, and a healthy dose of unhinged humor, this campaign would make language learning fun, relatable, and just a little terrifying—because nothing motivates Gen Z more than a mix of entertainment and existential dread.