DUOLINGO
Creative Direction 〡 Promotional Copy
Chess.com partnered with the world’s leading language learning app, Duolingo, to produce a month-long promotion.
While Duolingo hosted their own in-app challenge, Chess.com welcomed Duo, Zari, Junior, Lily, and Oscar onto their popular AI bot page.
I worked closely with the Duolingo team to find creative angles — focusing on culture, community, and history — to seamlessly integrate our bustling communities.
PRESS:
CNBC / Nov 2023
SHAH-MAT!
In Ancient Persian etymology, “checkmate” was announced by exclaiming “shah-mat!”. In preliminary creative meetings with Duolingo, I made suggestions to elegantly weave our audiences together; Duo’s team loved the idea of focusing on the international aspects of chess and languages, creating content on their own site with a deep historical twist.
By focusing on the traveling roots of chess, Duo unleashed his Big Bird Energy every time a country-themed opening was played — “Angry Duo” became a viral sensation.
SUPER DUOLINGO
Chess.com users who successfully beat any of Duolingo’s wonderful bots were able to enjoy a free month of Super Duolingo. Our members — language veterans and multilingual newbies alike — were receptive.
Throughout the monthly campaign, two unique emails were sent to millions of Chess.com users. I led the written campaigns, crafting the copy for each mailer.
Click here to the full email in my Email Library.