STEVE RIFKIND, COACH OF THE STREET TEAMS : AN URBAN MARKETING GURU TALKS ABOUT PROMOTING FASHION, MUSIC, FILM AND SPORTS ON THE STREETS.

Daily News Record, February, 1999 by Knight, Molly

NEW YORK -- There's street-smart ... and then there's Steve Rifkind -- founder of SRC (Steve Rifkind Co.) and Los Angeles-based Loud Records. At 34, Rifkind can be credited with translating his knowledge of the streets into fueling one of today's most talked-about marketing tools -- street teams (young people hired to promote products in cities using "guerrilla" marketing tactics). For the past 10 years, an impressive repertoire of clients, from Tommy Hilfiger to Nike and Miramax, have sought out Rifkind and his street teams to promote their products in influential urban markets.

"Street teams are used to get the word out to the public -- good, bad or indifferent," Rifkind said. "They set a presence at a street level, starting out at the bottom and...