An unfashionable idea.

BresicWhitney was founded in 2003 with an unfashionable idea: that the real estate agent is not the story, and the home is. Holding to it has meant accepting that the group will not be for everybody.

Over five films, BresicWhitney Founder and Director Shannan Whitney and CEO Will Gosse explore the business more than twenty years on from that decision, and the ones that have followed it. 

From what being customer-first means in practice, to the courage to change, the limits of ambition, and the misconceptions that are worth challenging, discover the series below.

The business of brand, beyond an agent

The first thing BresicWhitney puts in front of a customer is a home, not the persona of the agent selling it.

Will explains the reasoning behind that. "Property and communities are something most people have an interest in. Property is a more sustainable channel through which you can engage on a deeper level with your communities and your customers," he says. 

"And I do think the customer can see the difference."

In practice, that means a number of things. Text-only signboards with no photograph of the agent. Photography and videography that bring a property to life, accurately and intentionally. The group's content platform, The Journal, highlights the houses and the memories held in them, told by the people who know them best, alongside established and emerging names in design, architecture and lifestyle.

Moving that from an idea to a way of operating has meant more infrastructure, more people, and a clear vision. Teams across operations, creative, communications, property management and finance all sit in-house.

"When you're a founder, you learn very quickly that a business is only as good as its people," Shannan says. Finding those people has meant looking beyond the industry itself, adds Will. “If we aren't considering talent from different channels, different avenues, we're going to be very limited in what we're able to do.”

How do we do this better?

Will has been with BresicWhitney for more than twelve years, and was appointed CEO earlier this year. When asked what has kept him with the business, he returns to the same question.

"It has always been that goal or that orientation towards, how do we do this better?" he says. 

The measure of that remains whether it benefits the customer. Leadership, and having the courage to make change, is essential to it.

"It's easier to keep doing what you're doing now, or what you're comfortable doing. It's harder to make change, harder to bring in new ideas, new thinking. It's harder to take risks. It's harder to do things differently," Shannan says. 

"We have to encourage young, talented people to get to the front of the line in leadership, and have the courage to be making the decisions that need to be made." 

Participating beyond property

BresicWhitney has grown from an inner-city specialist into a group serving Sydney's wider lifestyle suburbs. Through that growth, it has stayed within an intentional ten kilometres radius of the Sydney CBD.

"I think the risk for a lot of brands and cultures is that your ambition overtakes your capabilities.” Shannan says. "I think the brand's been clear about who our audience is and how we want to communicate with that audience." 

Will sees a responsibility in that. "I think given BresicWhitney has built itself in Sydney, it owes Sydney and the people of Sydney a lot. There almost sits a contract between us and the city, and I'm really excited to continue participating in ways that are not necessarily expected of us."

The stereotype, and the experience 

Both are aware of the stereotypes attached to the industry: that the people in it are devious, dishonest, disrespectful, and unaware of the communities they work in. In most cases, they argue, that is not the reality.

"My experience with people in the industry has actually been the opposite of that," Will says.  "I think you find people in the industry that are genuinely trying and working to do the right thing. They're genuinely looking to make better impressions on the people that they work with every day." Shannan agrees. “What I see is groups, people, businesses, brands genuinely wanting to do better.” 

The commitment is one that must continue. “If that pursuit falls away, I think the industry itself falls away," Will concludes.