Britvic will now relaunch Red Devil, still endorsed by footballer-turned actor Vinnie Jones, with a heavyweight marketing campaign before Christmas.
At the same time, the soft-drinks giant is ditching its Carbon brand, which it has trialled to limited success over the past year.
Unlike Carbon, which was designed to be mixed with dark spirits such as bourbon whiskey, Red Devil is often mixed with vodka.
Britvic hopes young people in bars and clubs can be persuaded to ask for a 'Vodka Red Devil' rather than the hugely popular 'Vodka Red Bull'.
Britvic this week paid an undisclosed sum for the UK and Ireland rights to Red Devil, which has 2% of the energy drinks market.
It will shift production of the cherry-flavoured drink from the brand's European factory in Holland to its own Essex plant.
"We wanted a youth-oriented brand to go up against Red Bull, said Andrew Marsden, Britvic's category director.
"We could have developed our own, but to start from scratch would have required a lot of investment."
Marsden said he would "start thinking about an advertising agency for Red Devil, although the marketing focus would initially be on in-store and in-venue activity to encourage trial.
Red Devil ran a controversial £1m ad campaign featuring Vinnie Jones in 2000 through Equinox Communications. One commercial, showing a bird crashing into a window, drew hundreds of complaints from the public to the ITC and was moved beyond the late-night watershed.
Britvic is likely to use Jones in promoting Red Devil as he still has more than a year left on his endorsement contract.
COMMENT
Britvic's purchase of Red Devil represents a determined, if belated, attempt to tackle the runaway success of Red Bull in the 'trendy' energy drinks market.
Red Bull, a private company, will now feel the full force of Britvic's marketing arsenal.
However, Red Bull's success was built up, largely by word of mouth, over a decade, and it will be difficult for Red Devil to emulate its underground appeal. Coca-Cola, for all its marketing muscle, has so far failed to make much of an impression with its Burn brand.
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