The changing shape of Rivella: Now a new bottle and label is coming to the UK

Rivella is about to make its debut in the UK

In the half century since it first appeared in Swiss shops, the best known soft drink in Switzerland has seen many changes in bottle design. But its content never varied.

Now a new style bottle and label are to appear in the UK, and an aggressive marketing campaign is about to begin to introduce it to British tastes.

An initial consignment of 2,500 bottles has already arrived, and it's already being tried out by buyers from the big retail chains, corporate catering companies, sports clubs and coffee shops.

Said importer Bob Davies of Genorel Soft Drinks in Dorking: "I'm sure it's going to go down well. There's nothing quite like it in the UK. It's a naturally refreshing healthy drink, and in my view it tastes like a non alcoholic Pimms."

Initially he's bringing in two kinds of Rivella – the original red label and the blue label, which is a sugar free, low calorie version.

Rivella, which was created by Robert Barth in 1952, is made at Rothrist (Schweiz) by the company that also makes the non alcoholic grape drink Grapillon and the Michel range of fruit juices.

And this month, just as it was preparing to go on sale in the UK, it received an unexpected publicity boost. Newspaper headlines told how researchers at Loughborough University had found that milk is far more effective than any sports drink at replacing the fluids and salts lost through sweat.

The unique feature of Rivella is that it is made from whey, and therefore contains all the vital milk ingredients like lactose, lactic acid and minerals.

The Loughborough team's tests showed that the products in milk keep the body rehydrated four times longer than water or the top selling sports drink Poweraide, which is made by Coca-Cola.