By becoming the exclusive retailer of Liz Claiborne merchandise, JCPenney believes it can double its Claiborne business within five years, reports Women's Wear Daily. Chairman/CEO Myron E. "Mike" Ullman 3rd tells the trade that Liz & Co. is already its top brand, as well as "the most often requested and favorite brand of our core customer." He also says the American Living label by Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. is selling better than expected, and "the customers are reacting better to the merchandise all the time." --Sarah Mahoney

The Samuel Adams beer brand has partnered with an artisan butcher, Jake Dickson, to offer a Samuel Adams Boston Lager beef cut through Dickson's Farmstand Meats and other selected retailers, starting in June. The beef cut, which features the flavor profile of Samuel Adams Boston Lager, was created to appeal to craft beer and beef aficionados alike, according to the companies. "The full body, classic hopping and complexity of fermentation character make Samuel Adams Boston Lager the perfect complement to beef cuts, particularly for grilling," said Samuel Adams founder and brewer Jim Koch. Dickson's Farmstand Meats …

Scion is launching its next-gen tC compact car with an online competition, called "Unlock the tC Road Trip." The eight-week long campaign mixes the web with the real world in virtual cross-country drive meant to elaborate on the Scion brand driver that the cars are meant to be accessorized. The effort dangles a 2011 tC as grand prize. Starting next week at UnlockthetC.com, there will be daily prizes leading to the real-world event where four finalists will be flown to Los Angeles and compete against one another for the chance to win a tC. Pre-register here. In the game, at …

In an alliance of Web and mobile giants, Yahoo and Nokia Monday announced a new strategic partnership in which the companies will collaborate on key services such e-mail, instant messaging and maps and navigation for PCs and mobile devices. Under the deal, Nokia will become the exclusive provider of Yahoo’s maps and navigation services, while Yahoo will power email and chat on Nokia devices. The companies also plan to pursue efforts to allow people using Nokia’s Ovi suite of Internet services to use their Ovi login across various Yahoo properties. “We’re excited to expand the reach of …

General Motors has shifted Susan E. Docherty to GM VP, International Operational Sales, Marketing and Aftersales, effective June 1.  Docherty, who will report to Tim Lee, president, GM International Operations (GMIO), was moved to make room for Joel Ewanick, who replaces her as VP of U.S. marketing. Docherty's job will be to coordinate sales, marketing and aftersales in Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Russia and CIS operations.  Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Holden and Cadillac brands will be under her purview. Docherty replaces Don Johnson who will have a new position at the company, as yet un-announced.

Nissan has tapped Jon Brancheau to the VP marketing spot vacated recently by Joel Ewanick, now at GM. Brancheau moves to the spot from director, Global Infiniti Marketing Communications and Media. Brancheau will lead the Nissan brand's marketing activities in the United States, including marketing communications, C&I, pricing and product management. "Jon Brancheau's work at Infiniti has demonstrated that he can effectively lead a Marketing organization through a critical launch cycle," said Brian Carolin, SVP, sales and marketing – Nissan North America, in a release. Brancheau handled the global launches of Infiniti G and M. He joined …

Following a month-long backlash to its Open Graph initiative, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in Washington Post op-ed piece today the company will add new privacy controls that are simpler and allow users and provide an easy way to turn off all third-party services. "The biggest message we have heard recently is that people want easier control over their information. Simply put, many of you thought our controls were too complex," wrote Zuckerberg. "Our intention was to give you lots of granular controls; but that may not have been what many of you wanted. We just missed the …

Aiming to prevent users' search queries and results from interception, Google said Friday it is rolling out an encrypted version of its search service. The beta offering, available at https://www.google.com won't return links to all features, including Image Search and Maps. Google additionally warns that searching on the encrypted site might take longer than on the non-encrypted one. Google still retains its own logs tying IP addresses to search queries. "Searching over SSL doesn't reduce the data sent to Google -- it only hides that data from third parties who seek it," the company says.

Google received clearance from the Federal Trade Commission Friday for the acquisition of AdMob, the mobile ad display company. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission voted 5-0 in favor of closing the investigation into the deal. Concerns of Google were overshadowed by Apple’s launch of its mobile ad platform, as well as the development of ad networks by third-party companies. The $750 million AdMob deal announced in November 2009 had a multimillion dollar kill clause that Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt told investors last week the company would never have to use.

All Things Digital is reporting that there will be one less thing in the digital media biz: Rafat Ali's role at PaidContent, the blog he founded at the height of the Internet bust, and which he sold nearly two years ago along with the rest of ContentNext, to U.K.-based The Guardian Group. "Sources said Ali has told co-workers he will leave the company in early July," All Things Digital's Peter Kafka reported this morning, adding that it is not clear what Ali will do next, but that he relocated from Los Angeles to New York recently.