• Business Week , Monday, September 15, 2008 10:45 AM

As soon as Josh Hamilton stepped out of the batter's box after belting 28 homers in the first round of Major League Baseball's Home Run Derby competition at the All Star Game this year, a teammate and a ball boy each offered him bottles of Gatorade and towels emblazoned with the sports drink's logo. It was no accident.

Gatorade's elevated product placement is the handiwork of Jeff Urban, the company's svp for sports marketing. "There aren't many people in the industry who have connections as well developed as Jeff," says Thomas Fox, a principal at Wasserman Media Group and Urban's former boss at Gatorade. But Urban argues that anyone in his job would probably be just as mighty. "Our marketing cannon is pretty full, and it shoots pretty wide," he notes.

Gatorade sponsors every major sports league in the U.S. and has a championship roster of celebrity athlete endorsers. It dominates the sports drink category with a market share of more than 80% and $5 billion in annual revenue but sales growth at the PepsiCo subsidiary has slowed to 3% or less annually.

Read the whole story at Business Week »