- As Bad Bunny prepares to take the stage to be the first artist to perform the Super Bowl’s halftime show entirely in Spanish, Duolingo is stepping up to make sure fans don’t miss out.
- The language learning app will use the NFL’s conference championship games this weekend
- To help fans learn “Bad Bunny 101,” translating certain lyrics into English in an ad. The 15-second animated spot sees Duolingo’s owl mascot, Duo, dressed as Bad Bunny, translating words and phrases like “twerk” and “auntie asked me.”
The spot will air in select markets during the AFC and NFC Championship games on CBS and Fox, respectively. For the CBS broadcast, the spot will air in New York, San Francisco, Boston and Los Angeles. The spot will only run in New York and San Francisco during the NFC game.
Duolingo has also created two 5-second reminder ads to air during the broadcasts. Duolingo will also have a presence on the New York subway system, wrapping the S train with Duolingo visuals and translating short Spanish phrases.
Duolingo first marketed around the Super Bowl in 2024, running a five-second spot in key markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami, Detroit and Pittsburgh. The spot was bolstered with a real-time push message to Duolingo users in those markets to “do their lesson.”
The decision to run a campaign during the championship games came down to one reason: fans need time to actually learn some of the language before the Bad Bunny’s performance. “Spanish is the second most spoken language in the U.S., and it’s already part of how culture shows up,” said Duolingo CMO Manu Orssaud, in a statement. “This halftime show lets fans experience that at full volume – and a little Spanish goes a long way toward enjoying the moment even more.”
A company representative would not rule out the possibility of Duolingo having a presence during the Super Bowl or its halftime show.
When Bad Bunny was announced as this year’s halftime performer, Duolingo offered a limited-time promo code encouraging people to brush up on their Spanish. According to the company, more than 60% of the people who redeemed that code are still actively learning on the app.
In addition to the television commercial, Duolingo is supporting the effort with audio placements targeted to Bad Bunny listeners on Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM and SoundCloud. The ultra-short ads (3-5 seconds each) are built around Duolingo’s “correct answer” sound. The creative will refresh daily in the run-up to the game, then shift to more evergreen messaging in the final days leading up to the Super Bowl.
Duolingo will also air 5-second reminder ads during the Grammys broadcast on Feb. 1.
