Gen Z perspectives: Duolingo's ad platform and Gong Cha's 2026 reboot

Happy Friday, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE readers and welcome back to Gen Z Perspectives, your go-to feature where we unpack the week’s top stories and trending topics through the eyes of Gen Z. From the biggest industry moves to viral moments and marketing controversies worth dissecting, we’re bringing the heat with authenticity, awareness and probably a few unfiltered takes.

This week: Duolingo launched a playful, character-led ad platform aimed at winning over Gen Z, Love, Bonito and LinkedIn tackled the career questions women hesitate to ask, and we explored what Gong Cha’s 2026 relaunch will need to truly stand out.

Here's the tea you can't afford to miss.

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1. Duolingo rolls out character-led ads platform to charm Gen Z

Duolingo has rolled out a new mobile-first advertising platform, Duolingo Ads, aimed at helping brands connect with Gen Z through playful, character-led formats.

The mobile learning app, which has more than 128 million monthly active users globally, said the platform was built to “delight, not disrupt”. Ads will feature Duolingo’s popular cast of characters and are designed to blend branded storytelling with the app’s signature humour and charm.

Read more here. 

2. Love, Bonito and LinkedIn tackle career questions women hesitate to ask

LinkedIn has teamed up with fashion brand Love, Bonito to launch a campaign addressing the persistent confidence gap faced by women in the workplace.

Titled "What we don’t ask: Career questions women should start asking", the initiative surfaces the questions women often hesitate to raise — from mentorship and communication to navigating career growth — and pairs them with insights from voices such as LinkedIn’s APAC HR director Sumita Tandon, Love, Bonito's CEO Dione Song and Malaysia’s top 20 LinkedIn creator Crystal Lim. 

Read more here. 

3. Gong Cha eyes 2026 relaunch: Can it win hearts and cups again?

Once a dominant player in Singapore’s bubble tea boom, Gong Cha officially ceased operations on 2 October, taking down its social media accounts and website and shuttering all its shops. The brand is set to return in 2026 under new franchisees with a relaunch branded “Gong Cha 2.0”, aiming to reclaim a leading position in a market that has grown far more competitive since it first captured Singaporeans’ taste buds.

For early bubble tea adopters, Gong Cha evokes nostalgia for its rapid expansion and early buzz. But the market has evolved: boutique stores such as Koi and Chagee emphasise freshness and aesthetics, Mixue competes on value and ubiquity, and Hey Tea continues to carve a premium niche. Consumers too have evolved with elevated experiences, functional benefits, and social-media-worthy presentation now becoming a norm. This means legacy brand love alone may not be enough for the tea brand when it launches.

Read more here. 

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