Gulped by athletes during games and practices and dumped overthe heads of coaches after victories, Gatorade has become as much apart of the American sporting scene as artificial turf - with whichit shares a funny green color.
Now the odd-tasting sports drink is facing some competition ofits own.
Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc., grappling with slowing growthof their best-known products, are trying to muscle in on thefast-growing, $1 billion sports drink industry that Gatorade longhas dominated.
Coke announced last week that it will introduce its ownversion of the thirst-quenching drink, which it calls PowerAde, infour southeastern markets next month. That's when Pepsi is scheduledto expand test marketing of its similar concoction, All Sport, froma handful of markets to 25 percent of the nation.
The new contenders to Gatorade's throne already are learningthe lingo of the sports drink business: A Pepsi spokeswomanmentioned All Sport's 'slammability' - the ease with which the drinkpours out of the upended wide-mouthed bottle and down the throat ofa thirsty athlete. And a Coke spokesman said the company plans tomarket PowerAde to 'points of sweat' - the athletic clubs and othersporting venues where sweaty, thirsty customers gather. Bothsoft-drink makers say their products will, like Gatorade, includeingredients that replace body chemicals lost through perspiration.
Gatorade has had competitors before, but they have hardlyaffected the industry leader, which is made by Quaker Oats Co.Gatorade holds around 90 percent of the market for sports drinks,according to industry analysts' estimates.
But Coke and Pepsi could represent serious competition, expertssay, because of their powerful distribution systems and marketingclout - including the ability to sell their products in theirubiquitous vending machines.
'While the consumer decides what goes off the shelf, Coke andPepsi decide, along with the store, what goes on the shelf,' saidJesse Meyers, publisher of Beverage Digest, an industry newsletterin Old Greenwich, Conn.
Quaker Oats officials, however, don't appear to be veryexercised at the prospect that two big new contenders are gettinginto the ring with Gatorade. Gatorade's strong brand recognition,they say, gives it a significant advantage over its upstartcompetitors.
'Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola are formidable competitors with verypowerful distribution systems,' said Philip A. Marineau, theexecutive vice president at Chicago-based Quaker Oats who overseesGatorade. 'We would be foolish not to be concerned about that. Butultimately the consumer pulls the product out of the store.'
Nevertheless, Quaker Oats is girding itself for the battle.Earlier this week, it announced a corporate reorganization thatestablished a separate division for Gatorade, which is Quaker'sbest-selling product.
That's the kind of success that attracted the attention of Cokeand Pepsi. The market for Gatorade-type drinks has been growing indouble digits for the past few years, while the domestic market formore conventional soft drinks has gone flat.
'It is a category that's growing, it's a category that seems tocut across a lot of demographic lines,' said Martin Romm, a beverageindustry analyst at First Boston Corp. in New York. 'It's a marketthat has really been untapped in terms of the major soft drinkcompanies.'
But Coke and Pepsi have been eyeing the sports drink market forsome time. Coke began test marketing PowerAde in soda fountains atconvenience stores in the South and Midwest two years ago, whilePepsi has been trying out All Sport in Houston, Minneapolis andSacramento since last summer.
Most recently, Coke has been negotiating with Quaker Oats tosell Gatorade in Coke machines. But those talks broke down lastweek, leading Coke to announce its plans for PowerAde.
Some analysts say Coke and Pepsi may quickly discover thatGatorade's dominance of sports drinks will be hard to overcome. 'Iput my money on Gatorade,' said Emanuel Goldman, a beverage industryanalyst at PaineWebber Inc. in San Francisco.
Let the games begin. 'It ought to be an interesting struggle,'said Marineau at Quaker Oats. 'We're looking forward to it.'
