Duolingo and Indonesia’s e-commerce giant Tokopedia have a first-of-its-kind brand collaboration that has taken Indonesian social media by storm.
Although the two originate from vastly different industries, their partnership feels like a natural evolution of Indonesia’s digital pop culture — where Duolingo’s cheeky green owl, Duo, and Tokopedia’s friendly mascot, Toped, have long been paired together by fans through memes and online jokes.
The campaign kicked off with a surprise TikTok swap that instantly captured public attention.
For one day, Duo appeared on Tokopedia’s official channel humorously declaring, “Not Tokopedia, don’t ask for deals,” while Toped surfaced on Duolingo Indonesia’s page clarifying, “I’m not teaching languages.” Both brands updated their bios in solidarity with the playful mix-up, sparking a wave of user engagement and fan-generated content.
Offline, the collaboration extended to side-by-side out-of-home displays across central Jakarta, featuring both mascots correcting their “mistaken identities” while highlighting their respective strengths — Tokopedia’s unbeatable deals and Duolingo’s fun, accessible approach to language learning.
Taking their collaboration beyond screens, Duolingo and Tokopedia brought their mascots to a live K-pop dance showdown near Gelora Bung Karno Stadium on November 2. Known for their strong ties to K-fandom culture — from Duolingo’s social campaigns with K-pop groups to Tokopedia’s sponsorship of major pop events — the brands drew huge crowds and thousands of social shares through the energetic event.
As the highlight of the collaboration, Duolingo announced the opening of its first official Southeast Asian online merchandise store, hosted exclusively on Tokopedia and going live on November 11, 2025.
“Partnering with Indonesia’s leading e-commerce platform to launch our first online store in the region is a major step toward connecting with our fans and learners in even more personal ways,” said Irene Tong, Marketing Lead of Southeast Asia at Duolingo.
“This collaboration reflects our shared passion for relevance, creativity, and community empowerment. By pairing two beloved digital icons, we’ve shown how innovation and collaboration can inspire joy while strengthening Indonesia’s digital ecosystem,” said Jonathan Theon Locanawan, Head of Marketing at Tokopedia.
Entelechy Asia 