David Wieme has been in sports his entire life. He has run on fields and hardwood, skated on ponds and rinks and walked fairways and trails since his middle school days. If you don’t believe it, you would have only needed to take a whiff of his hockey bag, his sneakers or the trunk of his car, back in the day (well before he joined Fresh Gear).
It’s this history in sports that brought Wieme to Fresh Gear. A fortuitous meeting with Pat Conroy, the founder of Fresh Gear, at Total Sports in Wixom, gave Wieme the opportunity to get involved with the ultimate odor eliminator. Wieme saw great potential in Fresh Gear, and began work on Conroy's missing piece — a digital marketing strategy that included an e-commerce presence to sell Fresh Gear in local and U.S. markets.
Wieme began his career in sales and marketing with Palace Sports & Entertainment and the Detroit Pistons in 1989. The Bad Boys solidified his understanding of branding, well before the term/idea came into vogue. In later years with the Pistons, now with social media a part of every day life, Wieme helped develop the Goin’ to Work brand campaign for the Detroit Pistons, 2004 NBA Champions.
These stints with PS&E and the Pistons cemented the importance of developing a solid brand as an organization “markets” its products, particularly in the vast expanse of the World Wide Web.
Today, with new opportunities opening hourly, Wieme is tasked with branding Fresh Gear and standing out in the ever present noise that is the Internet.
Wieme has moms in his sights: hockey moms, soccer moms and volleyball moms because market research shows that kids stink. This research also shows that 99.9% of these kids couldn’t care less that they reek. So, it’s the moms that suffer (along with dads, brothers, grandparents, aunts and uncles; anyone in close proximity, really). As such, Wieme plans to go to the source, working to make Fresh Gear a daily presence in the lives of these suffering matriarchs.
In the coming months, Fresh Gear will target team managers, trainers and coaches, with plans to be in athletic kits and locker rooms throughout the United States. And in the coming years, Wieme has plans to expand the Fresh Gear brand to the hospitality, automotive and real estate industries.
Wieme is a graduate of Oakland University (CAS ‘89) with a degree in communications. He played on the Oakland varsity golf team for three years.