Team USA x Purdue Global

As the preferred online university and degree provider for the Guild and Team USA Learning Network, Purdue Global offers U.S. Olympians and Paralympians the chance to earn their degrees. Since elite athletes spend most of their lives training, the partnership provides access to the educational pathways needed to prepare them for life after sports. To build on the partnership’s excitement, Purdue Global created an Olympic Winter Games 2026 campaign featuring two Purdue Global Team USA athletes and one retired athlete.
At the center of the campaign were authentic, documentary-style stories featuring Team USA athletes Ashley Farquharson, Chevonne Forgan and Matt Mortensen. Farquharson’s journey became a defining narrative, highlighting her pursuit of both an Olympic medal and a bachelor’s degree through the Guild partnership. She became the first athlete ever to medal at the Winter Olympic Games while studying as a student from Purdue Global and the Purdue system. This storytelling approach framed higher education as something that can coexist with, and support, ambitious life goals.
Paid media placements across premium environments, including NBC, YouTube and connected TV, delivered large-scale awareness, while social media extended engagement through short-form video and collaborative posts. High-performing YouTube content alone generated millions of views, including 13 million views on Farquharson’s hero video. Short-form video and day-in-the-life content further expanded reach, with Forgan’s YouTube short reaching 59 million viewers.
The campaign delivered exceptional performance across channels. Paid media generated 419,482,796 impressions and more than 361,000 clicks. Meanwhile, organic social contributed over 745,000 impressions and 30,000 engagements, with a 4.2% cross-channel engagement rate and 15.2% engagement rate on LinkedIn. From paid efforts alone, web performance included nearly 200,000 site visits and more than 42,000 engaged sessions.
Earned media amplified the campaign at scale, particularly following Farquharson’s bronze medal performance at Milano Cortina 2026. The content following that performance generated more than 918 million impressions across national and regional coverage — including 22 media interviews with national and regional reporters and placements in major outlets like People and USA Today.