High Valyrian Lessons demonstrated the magic of PR by transforming a collection of phrases from a made-up language into Duolingo's #1 most talked about campaign with more media mentions around the world than ever before.

To tap into the conversation around the most anticipated TV show of the year, Duolingo partnered with HBO Max to launch real High Valyrian lessons that teach fans the fictional language from House of the Dragon. Instead of spending a significant budget on paid media, Duolingo connected its brand to culture through a creative partnership and then used PR to amplify it around the world.

As the world’s #1 language learning app, Duolingo knows entertainment content drives interest in language learning and vice versa. From K-pop music to television shows like Squid Game, our data shows a direct correlation between user growth and what’s happening in the cultural zeitgeist.

So when HBO Max announced a new prequel to the Game of Thrones series named House of the Dragon, Duolingo saw an opportunity to join the conversation and drive brand awareness. How? By speaking the show’s language.

For the new Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, Duolingo partnered with HBO Max to create High Valyrian lessons that teach fans the fictional language from the show.

We launched the lessons ahead of the season premiere with multiple buzzworthy activations including cryptic billboards in Times Square and Comic-Con, an in-app challenge with a life-size Valyrian Steel sword as the prize, and viral social content featuring Duo the Owl on the iron throne at HBO Max’s Comic-Con event.

By tapping into the insight that nearly half of those who learn a fictional language go on to learn a real one next, we were able to focus on promoting a magical made-up language that would receive global attention while knowing that fans would eventually sign up for our other real languages down the line.

HBO Max was looking to engage fans after the original Game of Thrones series had ended years before. Knowing millennials, who make up Duolingo’s target audience, are obsessed with Game of Thrones and the new House of the Dragon series would feature its fictional language, we were confident an idea based on High Valyrian would speak to our audience too. We also knew nearly half of those who sign up for a fictional language go on to learn another like Spanish or French next.

So we turned this insight into a cultural phenomenon by partnering with HBO Max to promote High Valyrian lessons with the key message of "Learn High Valyrian on Duolingo." We focused on the most relevant entertainment media outlets (Variety, Nerdist, Rolling Stone) and launched our lessons during the week of Comic-Con to maximize impact in the press.

We developed our High Valyrian lessons with the inventor of the language himself, David Peterson, and featured him in outreach to press. The press kit also included a custom illustration of Duo the Owl on the throne, screenshots of lessons, photos of outdoor ads, and a link to try the High Valyrian course.

For launch, we bombarded Times Square and Comic-Con with cryptic billboards written completely in High Valyrian. Then, Duo the Owl showed up in real-life at HBO Max’s Comic-Con activation to claim the iron throne. Before we could share the content from our own channels, Variety Magazine and Nerdist News tweeted out pictures of Duo saying “@duolingo just won #SDCC.”

We also highlighted one learner who decided to hold her entire wedding in High Valyrian. While the story of High Valyrian Lessons started in the US, it soon spread around the world through multiple coordinated pitches.

High Valyrian Lessons became the #1 most talked about campaign for Duolingo ever with coverage around the world ranging from Fast Company in the US and the Independent in the UK to El Universal in Mexico. The unexpected partnership reactivated old Game of Thrones fans while also bringing in new ones to make House of the Dragon HBO Max’s most watched premiere in history. The campaign also generated more than 150 press mentions and 700M earned media impressions around the world with a single TikTok video receiving 10.8M views alone. It created a lasting cultural impact with one learner even deciding to hold her entire wedding in High Valyrian, which led to another media spike right before the season finale. The success of High Valyrian Lessons was specifically featured that quarter's public earnings report. So far over 300,000 fans have started learning High Valyrian, but most importantly 43% of them will go on to learn another language like Spanish or French next.