• by Karlene Lukovitz , November 9, 2010

Wendy Thomas -- daughter of Wendy's founder Dave Thomas, inspiration for its name and model for its now-iconic logo -- is starring in her first Wendy's commercials, albeit regionally.

Thomas -- now 49 and a co-owner, with family members, of more than 30 Wendy's franchises -- is featured in three TV spots running in the Las Vegas market that promote a new item being tested there: Dave's Hot 'N Juicy Cheeseburger.

The burger, a single patty described as the QSR's thickest, "hottest and juiciest" to date in the first spot, also features premium toppings. The item is being tested at price points averaging 20 cents higher than the chain's Classic Single cheeseburger, which is also one-quarter pound, Wendy's told BurgerBusiness.com.

The commercials feature Thomas reminiscing about her father, his philosophy and his bent for new, sometimes out-there ideas, with an emphasis on how proud he would be to have the new, premium cheeseburgers bear his name. "They would have made dad more than proud -- they would've made him hungry," says Thomas.

The spots were created by Wendy's agency Kaplan Thaler Group, also the creators of the chain's national "You know when it's real" campaign, launched late last year with a $75-million budget.

Wendy's -- which merged with Arby's in a $2 billion deal in late 2008 -- has been introducing new menu offerings such as premium salads with "all-natural" dressings and expanding its 99-cent Everyday Value Menu with items such as spicy chicken nuggets. The QSR also recently launched a nationwide, all Spanish-language TV campaign for the Hispanic market themed "Sabor de Verdad" ("Real Taste").

Since their merger into the Wendy's/Arby's group, both chains have been pushing to make up for having fallen behind competitors in operations, menu offerings and restaurant remodeling.

Wendy's is so far performing better than its sister chain. Although it saw a system-wide sales decrease of 1.7% in second-quarter 2010, company-operated store margins rose by 50 basis points, to 16.4%, versus Q2 2009.

Wendy's/Arby's Group president/CEO Roland Smith reported that Wendy's sales had been picking up "significantly" since it began national advertising of its new salads in July, and said the company expects the chain's third-quarter same-store sales to be positive. He also reported that Wendy's will introduce more new menu items, and return to "value messaging," later this year.

Arby's saw same-store system-wide sales decline by 7.4% in the second quarter, and the company expects its sales to remain negative for the third quarter. However, the chain's number of transactions was flat during Q2, "which is very encouraging compared to trends over the past year," said Smith.