ABOUT US
National Street Teams
Established 1998 Phoenix Arizona
National Street Teams was created and established in Phoenix Arizona 1998. At that time the professional promotional street teams & guerrilla marketing services were only being used by record labels. Most businesses who wanted that form of marketing had to rely on their own internal staff that lacked quality and consistency.
Our goal was to provide hard working, disciplined, promotional staff and management, in every city, promoting any brand, event or service!
25 years later we have expanded to over 96 major cities nationwide handling hundreds of different creative promotion campaigns and managing 1000’s of professional brand ambassadors.
While still leading the industry as the top entertainment street team we have expanded to cover a wide variety of corporate and franchise businesses and services.
Continued quality and reliability for our clients is our first most important policy.
Meet The Owner – An Interview with Derek Kane
How and when did you get your start?
I began my street-team work when I was 16 years old working for hip-hop record labels. Originally, I wanted to become a DJ. At the time, I hung out with a lot of DJ’s and they used to sneak me into the bars where they were working. As any other tagalong or groupie, I wanted to be a part of the scene. They gave me flyers to pass out and basically became their promoter. That led me to working for a record-label promotion company called Next Level Promotions and owner Marc “Daze” Young. His training and the work with Next Level got me noticed throughout the entertainment business as a hard working, reliable promoter. It all boiled down to the fact I had a very good work ethic, and that’s exactly what National Street Teams strives for today. I provide a service that the entertainment industry always wanted and needed that’s consistent and reliable on a regular basis.
What types of businesses do you help?
A lot of our clients are entertainment based but we work with all types of businesses. Most of them want us to target a specific demographic. That demographic can be local to their business area or is a demographic feeding into what they’re promoting. We’ve done everything from small businesses, such as pizzerias and tanning salons, to Titan Auto Insurance who we distribute for throughout the Southwest.
What sets National Street Teams apart from other companies out there?
Our process for finding outgoing hard working contract promoters is probably the No. 1 thing that sets us apart from any other agency. Any person can flyer a car, but very few people can walk up to anyone, hand them a flyer with a smile on their face, tell them the client’s information and do this repeatedly. From there our specific demographic research and scheduling is the most important part of having the contract promoters work the projects that will benefit our clients the best.
Why is flyering an effective way to market?
Unlike TV, radio, or print that advertise to the masses and social media that advertises to your current customers we go straight to your demographic of new customers. We’re not carpet-bombers; we’re a tactical team that goes directly to your clients, and promote at wherever they might be.
What is the most memorable campaign you’ve done?
We did an in-depth promotion for several clients during the Super Bowl in 2008. It was the hardest two weeks of work I have ever done. We had to hire on a mass amount of temporary help to cover the amount of work we had, I had friends, girlfriends, and anyone I could find helping work during the events leading up to the Super Bowl. I can remember thinking that my phone was beeping and checking it every five minutes because of the amount of texts I was receiving. Great campaigns and a lot of great work got done those two weeks.
How important is it having your teams work in multiple cities?
When I started in street-team work, I realized after some time, that clients wanted teams that could reach across other markets and work regionally. Now, with NST, we currently cover 10 major cities throughout the Southwest. We are ever expanding and opening new markets all the time.
What has been your biggest challenge in building your business? Biggest reward?
The biggest challenge is finding the right people to make sure the quality is upheld, those people with the same values and work ethic. The biggest reward was taking a business formula we have mastered over years in Arizona and using that formula in many other cities and watching it succeed.
Any last thoughts?
I always said if I had to work for the rest of my life I wanted it to be fun, I wanted it to be in the entertainment business, because of my blue collar construction worker mind set street-team work was the perfect opening for me to use my traits to start a career. Till this day I don’t hire people who want fame and glory. It’s not about fame and glory for me; it’s about making each project fun, putting in hard work, and seeing it through to the completion of the campaign. We do a very hard job, and we do it well, that is why NST is here and successful. That’s what makes me happy; it’s way better than being a DJ!
