Case Study: How CLS Living Uses Event Recap Videos to Build Culture and Attract Talent
For CLS Living, corporate recap videos aren’t just about showing how much fun they had at their event. They’re about showcasing who they are.
Campus Life and Style (CLS Living) is a national residential and student housing company headquartered in Austin, Texas. They operate campus-adjacent and residential communities across the United States, with a strong emphasis on hospitality, experience, and culture. Their company culture emphasizes the importance of the people on their teams, and video plays an important role in how they communicate internally and externally.
Over the years, we’ve partnered closely with CLS to create corporate event recap videos and other video content that shows how personable and fun their team actually is.
CLS team members accepting awards at their annual company celebration
Aligning on the Vision Before the Event
Before each event, CLS typically sends over a general outline of what they’re looking for, then we jump on a call to make sure we’re aligned.
As Lauren from CLS shared:
“At this point, RMF knows us extremely well, but earlier in the relationship we would talk through what we wanted the recap video to look like so that they were focused on the right shots during the event – people laughing, drinking, having fun versus more professional staged corporate content.”
Collaborating in the pre-production stage helped us understand how CLS wanted their events to be represented on camera. As the relationship developed, capturing CLS’s brand and culture on video became second nature.
Why Corporate Event Recap Videos matter for CLS
CLS primarily uses their event recap videos for social media and internal communication, but the impact goes far beyond visibility.
Lauren Bressler at CLS puts it this way:
“Our company culture is unique, and so anything public facing is also used as a recruiting tool to attract talent”
For a company operating communities across the country, showing culture matters. Corporate event recap videos give CLS a way to communicate what it actually feels like to be a part of their organization by not just showing what they do, but how they do it. That same mindset carries across other video work we do together, from commercial video production that supports leasing efforts to brand story videos that live on their website. We ensure that each piece of content is a reflection of CLS.
Trust During the Shoot
On the day of the event, CLS flags the must-capture moments like speeches, signage vendors, or planned highlights. From there they give RMF the creative freedom to capture the rest.
Lauren explained it this way:
“Each event has must-capture moments, but outside of that it’s whatever they think is best. The RMF team is great at having a vision for a recap or project and needs very little direction to make that happen”
That trust allows us to focus on reactions, interactions and all of the little moments in between that make corporate event recap videos feel alive instead of stage.
A Long-Term Creative Partnership
What’s made this partnership work isn’t just the output, it’s the relationship behind it. CLS is a client that RMF has been able to grow with over the years, making us feel like we’re an important part of the team.
CLS team members enjoying the annual company event
Lauren shared:
“Rigid Motion has been great – they’ve grown with us over the years and feel like family. They’re professional, responsive, creative, and flexible – business traits that are hard to find all in one place. We’ve always loved what they’ve produced for us and that they’re willing to listen to our ideas and truly create together.”
Developing our relationship with CLS makes it easy for us to collaborate to accomplish our video goals and allows our work to keep evolving. Each project builds on the last, and the storytelling gets to grow alongside the company.
Bringing It Back to the Process
Capturing key moments of corporate events
Our relationship with CLS Living is unique in its longevity, but this case study reflects the same approach we use across all of our corporate event recap videos. If you want a deeper look at how we plan, film, and edit events to capture real energy without disrupting the experience, you can read more about our Corporate Event Recap Video Process here.
Why This Matters for Your Company
CLS is a great example of what happens when video is treated as a long-term tool instead of a one-off deliverable.
When corporate event recaps, commercial video production, and brand story videos work together, they become powerful assets for culture, recruiting, and brand storytelling – long after your event ends.
Schedule a call with us to discover what kind of video would be the most effective for your brand.
Shoutout to Lauren Bressler at CLS Living for collaborating with us on this case study and for becoming not just a client but a friend of ours.
