Case Study
Connecting a Global Team Across 8 Time Zones
How Team Challenge Company delivered a virtual Globe Runner experience that brought 100 Amgen colleagues together across continents — and made every single one of them feel part of the same team.
About the Client
Amgen — A Global Biotechnology Leader
Amgen is one of the world’s largest independent biotechnology companies, with operations spanning North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and beyond. With teams distributed across multiple continents and time zones, creating genuine human connection across the organisation is one of the most significant cultural challenges any global business faces.
When Amgen’s UK team came to Team Challenge Company, the brief was clear: they needed a virtual experience that could bring together colleagues from across the globe in a way that felt genuinely engaging — not just another video call with activities bolted on.
The Challenge
Genuine Engagement Across Continents — Not Just a Video Call
The fundamental challenge of any virtual team event is the same: how do you create the energy, spontaneity, and genuine human connection of a physical experience when your team is spread across multiple countries and time zones? For Amgen, this was compounded by the need to run the event across two separate sessions to accommodate their global spread — without any loss of quality or energy between them.
The experience also had to work for a highly educated, scientifically-minded audience who would see through anything superficial. It needed intellectual substance, genuine competition, and a format that rewarded collaboration rather than individual performance.
The Solution
Globe Runner — A Virtual Race Around the World
Team Challenge Company selected Globe Runner as the ideal format — a virtual team experience built around a competitive race across global landmarks, combining cryptic clues, visual challenges, and team strategy in a fast-paced, immersive format.
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Two Sessions, One Consistent Experience
To accommodate Amgen’s global spread, the event was delivered across two separate sessions — one for the Americas and one for EMEA and APAC. Both sessions were designed to deliver identical energy, competitive structure, and facilitation quality.
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Global Landmark Challenges
Teams raced across a series of iconic global locations, solving cryptic clues and visual puzzles tied to real-world landmarks. The global theme resonated particularly strongly with an international team — many recognised locations from their own countries.
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Collaborative Team Strategy
Unlike individual quiz formats, Globe Runner required teams to make collective decisions about route selection and resource allocation — building the cross-functional collaboration that Amgen wanted to foster.
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Professional Virtual Facilitation
Team Challenge Company’s experienced virtual hosts managed the energy and pace throughout, ensuring the experience felt live and dynamic rather than pre-recorded or passive.
The Outcome
A Global Team That Felt Like One Room
Colleagues who had never met in person — and in some cases had never spoken — collaborated, competed, and laughed together in real time.
Both sessions received unanimously positive feedback, with participants highlighting the energy, pace, and quality of facilitation as standout elements.
Running two sessions for a global audience is a logistical challenge. Both sessions delivered identical energy and engagement — a mark of genuine operational excellence.
Amgen has continued to work with Team Challenge Company following the success of this event, exploring further virtual and in-person experiences for their global teams.
“What a fantastic event — the team absolutely loved it. You managed to bring together colleagues from across the world and make it feel like we were all in the same room. The energy, the competition, and the laughter were exactly what we needed. We will definitely be working with you again.”
Why It Worked
The Principles Behind the Success
A global race for a global team. The Globe Runner format felt personally relevant to an international audience in a way that a generic quiz never could.
Professional virtual facilitation kept the experience feeling spontaneous and dynamic — the critical difference between a memorable event and a forgettable one.
The route-selection mechanic required genuine team decisions, not just individual answers — building the cross-functional working relationships Amgen wanted to strengthen.
Delivering two sessions at identical quality across different time zones is harder than it looks. Amgen’s global team got one consistent, high-quality experience — regardless of where they dialled in from.
Following the success of Globe Runner, Amgen has continued to explore further virtual and in-person team experiences with Team Challenge Company — a relationship built on the trust that comes from exceptional delivery.