Karen’s reign is over. Emily has moved in. Of course, the real Emilys of Paris are less than thrilled with their tiara, but for BETC and learning language-platform, Duolingo, it’s a triumph. The partners have attached themselves to the cute linguistic and cultural faux pas made Lily Collin’s character, in the Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated first season of Emily, in a promotion that combines gentle mockery with motivation (plus superb timing and a brilliant idea). Duolingo decided is offering help to all the Emilys of the world improve to their French using Duolingo’s popular French course.
Duolingo is offering its premium membership, Duolingo Plus, free for a month to encourage people to learn French, available 48 hours from when the show premieres. To be eligible for the promotion, you just need to meet one important criterion – your name must be Emily. Because either BETC is very, very clever or very, very lucky, Emily is one of the most popular names in the Western world. It has previously earned the top spot in America for over a decade and with over 300,000 Emilys currently living there. Other pronunciations of the name will also be accepted. So Amelie, Emilie, Milly are AOK.
The promotion launched with an endearing short film featuring six Emilys based in Paris, who encourage fans not to repeat her adorable, but sometimes culturally insensitive, mistakes from real Parisian locations seen in the show.
The campaign became the most viewed campaign this year on BETC’s social media (LinkedIn) – in just one day.
