General HR
Behind the scenes: How our brand video came to life
Marlen Kothen
on August 6, 2026 • 4 min. reading time
How do you combine lived customer closeness, trust, and the turbulent everyday reality of HR into a two-minute video? That was exactly the question we faced when shooting our new brand video. Instead of technical feature lists, we chose to show what really makes HRlab special: a conversation on equal footing with a real customer. The result speaks for itself! Here's our behind-the-scenes story.
The idea behind the video
Most product videos for HR software follow the same pattern. You see screen recordings, menus being clicked through, long feature lists, and hear IT jargon that has nothing to do with real everyday office life. It's often technically impressive, but leaves the most important question unanswered: Does this actually help me in my daily work? That's exactly why we didn't want to shoot a classic, technical software video.
We wanted to show the unfiltered reality: HR work thrives on human exchange, trust, and mutual understanding. So the video tells a very concrete story: a customer comes to us with her everyday HR concerns and leaves with solutions, clarity, and a smile. A meeting on truly equal footing.
Watch the new brand video on YouTube: This is us. HRlab.
Interview: Behind the Scenes
How do you build such a vision into a two-minute video? We spoke with Lesley Rudolph, Head of Brand & Strategy at HRlab, about the shoot, the challenges, and the best moments.
Question: Why did you choose a story format centered on a customer?
Lesley: "Mainly because working with HR teams isn't an anonymous process for us. In the video, you see Sandra coming to us with her HR topics. And you see how we work together on a solution, so that our HR software supports the customer exactly where they need it. That's exactly how we experience it every day in customer interactions. On top of that, our team itself comes from the HR field — so we know both sides of the desk from our own experience. That's how we manage to continuously portray an honest conversation on equal footing."
Question: At minute 1:22, the video is about customer feedback. How realistic is this scene for everyday life at HRlab?
Lesley: "That was extremely important to us during the shoot: we take our customers' feedback seriously — customer feedback continuously flows into our software development. Because that's what it's all about: when HR professionals notice in practice that something isn't working smoothly in the software, we take that into our product roadmap. During the shoot, our focus was on recreating exactly this dynamic."
Question: Which moment from the shoot has stuck with you personally?
Lesley: "What stuck with me was how exciting the whole experience of working in front of the camera was, and the attention to detail the whole team put in so that we'd end up with a video of this quality. And our closing line — that HR isn't a linear process but a cycle — really sums it all up. HR never stops: after onboarding comes development, offboarding, and then new recruiting phases again. We accompany companies along this entire journey, without interruption."
Question: One last fun fact question: How many times did you shoot the throwing scene until it was exactly right?
Lesley: (laughs) That definitely required some hand, leg, and speech coordination! It took more than 10 takes before the whole scene came together. Still fewer than I'd feared, though.
These core values are what HRlab lives out every day
Our video sums up what HRlab stands for, both as software and as a team. Three core statements shape the overall concept:
1. Real HR experience that flows into our software development
Software has to be built by people who understand the everyday working reality of its users. Since our team itself comes from HR practice, we know the pitfalls of spreadsheet chaos, deadline tracking, and maintaining master data.
2. Data protection as an unshakeable foundation
Sensitive personnel data requires the highest security standards. For us, GDPR compliance isn't an add-on feature — it's the basic requirement of any digital HR department.
3. The HR cycle: holistic instead of piecemeal
Individual solutions for time tracking, recruiting, or master data also create individual data silos. A future-proof HR software accompanies the entire employee lifecycle within one integrated system.
