Pacific Canada
Hari Launched Dual Agency Despite Slow Times
Connect Canada CRE has selected its inaugural Canadian Next Gen Award recipients.
The 10 honourees are emerging commercial real estate leaders from across Canada who have stood out for their diverse contributions to their organizations and industry. The winners are based in the regions that Connect CRE Canada covers daily on its news website (www.connectcre.ca).
This article profiles Britainny Hari, founder of Vancouver-based Dual Agency.
Not Discouraged by Down Market
Britainny Hari did not let a down market deter her dream of starting her own company.
In late 2023, she left her post as marketing and communications director at CBRE in Vancouver and launched Dual Agency. The Vancouver-based firm helps real estate companies brand and position themselves for the future.
Dual Agency draws its name from the role that a brokerage company plays while representing both the buyer and the seller in a transaction. In B.C., rules are strict when it comes to a brokerage firm serving both sides of a deal.
But Hari’s company does not face the same restrictions when it comes to providing marketing and communications services, and she strives to make the most of that freedom. As the founder and principal of Dual Agency, Hari makes it possible for commercial real estate companies to receive the same creative marketing support as other consumer-facing industries. In the process, she serves as an outspoken advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion and environmental and social governance.
Finding the commercial real estate quite transactional at its core, she has sought to mould Dual Agency as a company based more on deep relationships and less on deals.
“Her out-of-the-box thinking and understanding of the market allows her to challenge clients to think beyond the status quo and penetrate the noise in an oversaturated product market,” said the person who nominated Hari for a Next Gen Award.
Hari, 30, has worked in commercial real estate-related roles for about seven years. She works closely with C-suite individuals, brokerages, and developers to develop their marketing and communications strategies while placing an added emphasis on orchestrating their ESG and DEI initiatives.
During her tenure with CBRE, Hari was involved in the rebranding and repositioning of the architecturally acclaimed Arthur Erickson Place in Vancouver, BC. Built in 1968, the building underwent enhancements and upgrades to improve energy and efficiency and achieve a Zero Carbon Building-Performance Standard certification from the Canada Green Building Council. She inspired her team to rethink and drum up an approach to showcase the unique building.
Bringing ESG to the forefront of the selling points, the project was her first sustainable marketing initiative and even went as far as to print brochures on sugar sheet paper, a carbon-neutral copy paper with zero impact on climate change.
She was also instrumental in the branding, communications, and marketing of several high-calibre projects across Western Canada, including: Lab29 a lab sciences development in Vancouver by Low Tide Properties; the District at Beltline mixed-use project by Spear Street Capital in downtown Calgary; Greenwich Village by Melcor Developments, also in Calgary; and Vancouver projects Sunset Industrial Centre by Shato Holdings and Eight on Broadway by Chard Development.
Before joining CBRE, Hari worked at Talk Shop Media, managing accounts in the real estate division and supporting developers and brokerages with building awareness around the launch of their new condominium and rental projects.
To see the complete list of award recipients and read their intriguing success stories, click on the link below.
