Luxury carmaker Infiniti is supporting the launch of its M sedan and QX SUV via a multifarious deal with American Express Publishing and Time Inc. that gives the Franklin, Tenn.-based automaker top billing in a Food & Wine magazine series, “Supercharge Your Senses.â€� The epicurean series, which has sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell elements launches in May print issues and this week on the web. There are also mobile elements and events. Central to the program are food and culture recommendations around the country, cooking secrets from assorted chefs and wine tasting lessons. Said Ben Poore, VP, Infiniti …

ESPN has just launched ESPNNewYork.com, a Web challenger to the city's sports pages. And today it ran an ad on the back page of the New York Post, where the tabloid leads into its sports coverage. Either the Post isn't afraid of the competition -- ESPN has become such a sports media behemoth, it's the Yankees of that world -- or needed the ad money. Media companies often turn down ad requests from would-be opposition.

Volvo Cars of North America has redesigned its consumer web site to be more social by adding, among other things, a “Community� section. The community includes an official blog, at Volvoblog.us. Volvo says the blog launched in Nov. 2008 as TheCarThatStopsItself.com to promote Volvo’s XC60 crossover and the “From Sweden with Lov� experiential tour. Dan Johnston, Volvo’s product communications manager in the U.S. writes the content, but the company is adding guest contributions about safety, the environment and quality of life. The company says it is also expanding its efforts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

Broadpoint AmTech has kicked off a new quarterly report looking at display advertising trends across four key Web properties: Yahoo, AOL, MSN and YouTube. The findings were based on tracking over the past few months. Here are the highlights: Yahoo: Other than YouTube, had the highest percentage of homepage ads classified as purely for branding purposes, at about 33%. AOL: Deemed by far the most creative of the traditional media sites (excluding YouTube) analyzed in terms of its willingness to use non-standard, "expandable" rich media advertisements, at almost 23% of the total homepage ads we came across. …

The burgeoning digital out-of-home media marketplace is undergoing some consolidation among some key trade groups. The Digital Signage Association and the Self-Service & Kiosk Association Tuesday announced plans to merge and form a new organization called the Digital Screenmedia Association (DSA).  The news comes just weeks after the Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau (OVAB) relaunched itself as the Digital Place-Based Advertising Association (DPAA).

One of the astounding things about "Men's Health" magazine is that it assumes its readers are too stupid to know that eating the option not slathered in mayonnaise in the fast food joint is less bad than super-sizing your bacon, patty and cheese. The even more astounding thing is that editor in chief David Zinczenko and Rodale have managed to turn "Eat This, Not That" into a franchise across all its titles as well as a series of books that (apparently many, many) dim-witted middle-Americans strip-mall grazers, well, gobble up (more than 6 million copies have been sold to date). …

A broad coalition of digital rights groups and trade associations has weighed in on Google’s side in its court battle with Viacom about copyright infringement on YouTube. The organizations, including the American Library Association, Center for Democracy & Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation, NetCoalition (which includes Amazon, eBay and Yahoo) argue that YouTube is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s safe harbor provisions, which generally say that copies are immune from liability when users upload infringing material, provided the material is removed upon request. If Viacom’s argument that YouTube should be liable is accepted by the court, …

A tagline used in promotions for "Treme," HBO's new series, is “Won’t Bow, Don’t Know How,� in reference to the determination of the citizens of New Orleans after Katrina. And the show will bow again. After just its premiere Sunday, which had so-so ratings, HBO has already renewed the drama about post-Katrina life in NOLA for a second season.

A big part of a new-car sales psychology is a vehicle will be worth a few years down the line when a consumer decides to get a new vehicle. Ford says resale values of its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles are up 23% over the past year, because of stronger demand for Ford's new vehicle lineup and improved quality and durability ratings. The company says warranty repair rates on are down 40% globally in the past three years. The Dearborn automaker says the 2010 Ford Taurus is selling 50% higher at auction than the 2009 Taurus after one year in …

Reese's is calling its promotion around Iron Man II, "Part Chocolate. Part Peanut Butter. All Hero." The effort includes ads, on-pack, instant-win promotions dangling a chance to be a walk-on in a future Marvel film, a contest among MIT biz students (Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, went to MIT, ostensibly). Among other sweepstake rewards, a trip for two to visit a Marvel film set, a trip for two to attend a Marvel film premiere and 100 third runners up will receive a Sega Iron Man 2 video game. On campus, MIT MBA students will have to figure out …