Wendy's International yesterday announced a strategy to push product quality and freshness and to launch new products such as a double-melt hamburger later this year. It also disclosed an agreement to sell its underperforming Baja Fresh Mexican Grill chain for $31 million to a West Coast consortium led by investor David Kim. "Over time, we have kind of not focused on what business we're in, and we're in the core hamburger business," says interim CEO and president Kerri Anderson. The 6,600-store chain is testing other products, including large, indulgent sandwiches with multiple flavors. Early results of a test of …

Sony Corp. yesterday unwrapped a lineup of Walkman portable music players for the holiday season that it hopes will erode Apple iPod's commanding share of the digital-music player market. One distinctive feature of the new devices is the ability to sidestep the computer altogether by allowing users to upload music directly onto the device by connecting it to a CD player with a cord. While stressing the new Walkman allows users to organize music on personal computers in a similar way to Apple's iTunes, Sony sees non-PC users as a significant opportunity for growth. In Japan, Sony's four-gigabyte Walkman--the most …

New CEO August Busch IV named Robert Lachky, Anheuser-Busch's former ad chief, chief creative officer yesterday. Since 2005, Lachky had been leading A-B's "Here's to Beer" industry push, which earned him the industry's "Service Award" at the National Beer Wholesalers Association conference last month. A-B declined to confirm Lachky's new title, saying only that he was getting a new role. It is not immediately clear how the move impacts Marlene Coulis, who succeeded Mr. Lachky as the brewer's VP-brand management. Two people familiar with the switch said they thought her role would remain largely unchanged.

It may be an old story, but it keeps getting worse: Advertising continues to intrude on more previously untouched corners of life. The more consumers ignore ads, the more ads marketers spew back at them. The average 1970s city dweller was exposed to 500 to 2,000 ad messages a day; now, it's 3,000 to 5,000, according to the consulting firm Yankelovich. Viewers are not only exposed to more ads in traditional media, but also in venues that did not exist a short time ago, from TV screens in public places to the newest growth frontier: small-screen devices such as …

Chuck Fruit, one of the most powerful buyers of media on the client side, has jumped to the sales side of the business. Fruit, a long-time in-house media executive at Coca-Cola Co. and Anheuser-Busch, has joined Discovery Communications as a consultant. Atlanta-based Fruit, who is former CMO of Coca-Cola and was president of the Media Group at Anheuser-Busch, will advise Discovery's ad sales operations and will work to increase the profile of its Atlanta sales office. Fruit will work with the group headed by Joe Abruzzese, president, advertising sales, Discovery Networks U.S., who joined Discovery from president of advertising …

Coca-Cola and Nestle are launching Enviga--a sparkling green-tea drink under the Nestea umbrella that will be marketed as a "negative calorie" product that boosts metabolism. "There's calorie, low-calorie, zero-calorie, and now we offer consumers negative-calorie products," says Jason Warner, group marketing director for Beverage Partners Worldwide Americas, the companies' joint venture unit. Rhona Applebaum, chief scientist for Coca-Cola, says that extensive scientific studies show that three cans a day of Enviga will burn a net average of 60 to 100 calories. The brand--which claims twice the amount of the green-tea extract Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) of its competitors--will roll out in …

Hasbro is rolling out a toothbrush that not only plays two-minute pop-music clips through kids' teeth, but also sounds better when the child is brushing properly. As the bristles are brushed across the teeth, they send sound waves through them so that the user hears the song in his or her head. Sound quality tapers off when the bristles move across teeth rather than up and down. Hasbro's Tiger Electronics division chose upbeat songs that could be easily replicated with decent quality. New hits and old favorites include "Let's Get It Started" by the Black Eyed Peas; "Walk Away" …

Using ship containers as its inspiration, Puma has unveiled a new retail concept in its store in New York's Union Square that allows a store's fixtures to be mixed and matched in different combinations. The fixtures can be mounted on walls, laid on the floor or suspended from the ceiling, allowing each of Puma's 40-odd stores to create its own identity in the future. Designer Paolo Lucchetta, of RetailDesign SRL, says he hopes to connect the energy of the city with the "soul" of Puma, with amenities such as a "Meet New Friends" social area and a bike rental …

Applebee's has knocked $1 off the price of a 16-ounce glass of draft beer after 9 p.m. and introduced specialty drinks, like the "Dos 'Rita Rocks" Margarita to woo late-shift service-industry workers looking for a place to go after work. Bennigan's Grill & Tavern last month rolled out a menu of inexpensive "bar bites" to attract 25- to-45-year-old working professionals and singles--and boost alcohol sales to 25 percent of its total sales, up from the current 20 percent. With cash-strapped consumers eating out less often, so-called casual-dining chains are looking to sell more alcoholic beverages, which carry profit margins …

Walt Disney Co. yesterday opened Disney Vault 28, a store featuring upscale designer fashions that it hopes will fare better than its divested, mass-market Disney Stores. Vault 28 will be stocked with two new Disney brands, Kingdom Couture and DV28, as well as fashions from celebrity-favored designers, such as Chip & Pepper, Paige Premium Denim, Tarina Tarantino and Red Monkey. A pair of jeans costs close to $200. A King Baby leather belt with a skull and crossbones runs $900. Alice in Wonderland-printed panties designed by Kidada Jones, daughter of Quincy Jones, run $32. Disney Vault 28 is located …