Boom Shakalaka! Duolingo makes a "big bucket" while poking fun at the Dallas Mavericks

Last week, I discussed a successful real-time marketing case. Now, we have another amazing example of how this tool can raise awareness and insert your brand into pop culture.

First, I must confess that I am not a big sports fan. I like some teams: the Racing Club for soccer in my home country, the Blue Jays for baseball, the Maple Leafs for hockey, and the Raptors for basketball, just because I have been living in Toronto for the last seven and a half years. Still, I really don't follow any of their campaigns.

Yet, even someone so out of touch with professional sports like me got the news about the most scandalous trade in NBA history (and maybe in professional sports history?): Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Don?i? was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for some other player that is just not as good as him playing basketball.

If the news reached me, it really reached the entire world. That is precisely why this presented an incredible opportunity for brands to insert themselves into the discussion. However, it required careful execution to avoid seeming awkward or intrusive.

And that is what Duolingo did exceptionally well.

When the Los Angeles Lakers posted on X (formerly Twitter) introducing Don?i? as their new player, Duolingo quickly quoted the tweet mentioning the Dallas Mavericks and shared a recognizable screenshot of their product, featuring their mascot pointing out the mistakes a user made after completing a round of language learning with the app. The message was clear: "Hey, Dallas, let's review the mistake you made with this dumb trade."

With just those few elements, Duolingo was able to smoothly insert itself into the conversation—well, not so much for the poor Mavericks fans. That is also a risk that Duolingo's marketers probably had to consider before making the tweet.

But looking at the metrics, the bet probably paid off for Duolingo. The original Lakers’ tweet got (to this moment on February 6, 2025, at 6 pm) 1.2k comments, 18k retweets, 186k likes, 3.8k bookmarks, and 37.7 million views, and Duolingo’s got 893 comments, 20k retweets, 214k likes, and 12m views. While Duolingo’s tweet didn’t “ratioed” the original Laker’s post, it still did amazing metric numbers and inserted itself fantastically into a conversation where it really didn’t belong.

Another show of real-time marketing strategies well done. But let's not forget that this kind of rapid, clever response can only happen when you have a skilled team of digital marketers who are also informed about the trends and things going around and making the news.?