Gotta Get That Gatorade

Jessica Goldin, an Illinois high school swimming champion, is the kind of consumer companies pay good money for. She's devoted to a brand--the 16-year-old drinks only Gatorade when she's practicing or competing. And she has absorbed the marketing message: The salty sweet liquid is "the thirst-quencher," Goldin says. She won't even touch plain water.

Millions of other athletes are right there with her. Gatorade commands a stunning 83% share of the sports-drink market. In the food and beverage industry, that kind of market share is "almost illegal," says William Leach, a food analyst at Banc of America Securities. Coca-Cola Co.'s (KO) Powerade has captured no more than 11% of the market; PepsiCo's (PEP) All Sport has just 3%. Gatorade is so dominant that Quaker Oats Co. (OAT) executives smugly say its main competitor is tap water. "When we're done, tap water will be relegated to showers and washing dishes," Susan D. Wellington, president of Quaker's U.S. beverages division, said to analysts earlier this year. Quaker executives declined to comment for this article.