Sumo Showdown: Duolingo Owl Battles Sonic, Pac-Man and Other Mascots

The wrestling tournament we didn't know we needed

The Duolingo Owl got all buff and challenged a bunch of other brand mascots to sumo fights in Japan. Nothing absurd about that.

“We threw Duo into the ring to see what chaos he could create,” says Bunrei Yamane, the brand’s local social media manager. “What happened next wasn’t scripted,” Yamane says. “This was a real match, with real competition. And we didn’t know who would win. That raw unpredictability was part of the magic. The reactions, the UGC and even trending on X proved how much it resonated with people.”

UltraSuperNew developed the goofy initiative, which generated 23 million social impressions.