• by Wayne Friedman , December 16, 2010

Marketing executive Karen Sortito, 49, who came to prominence for her ground-breaking, multimillion-dollar product marketing deals for a number of James Bond movies in the 1990s, died Monday of cancer in New York.

For the last three years, she was general manager-entertainment for NYC & Company, the marketing partnerships agency for New York.

As executive vp of worldwide promotions for MGM/UA, Sortito struck major product placement, broad reaching entertainment marketing deals -- in what his now known as branded entertainment -- with the likes of BMW, Visa, Heineken, and others, for a number of theatrical movies.

In particular, her deals with BMW were the first of their kind. In 1995, for the new "GoldenEye" movie, Pierce Brosnan (debuting as James Bond), drove a BMW Z3, more or less usurping Bond's previous all-around favorite car in the 1960s James Bond movies, the Aston-Martin.

That deal with BMW yielded major advertising support for the movie -- tying in the content of the movie into TV commercials. Executives say those individual car deals gave the studio some $10 million to $15 million in media per movie. Other studios would follow with major media automotive-film deals for big theatrical movies -- as well as expanding into other advertising categories.

Other Bond movies went further, featuring Brosnan in character for tie-in movie commercials for Visa. Other big movie performers would follow Brosnan's move in helping to stir marketing support for movies by working closely with marketers.

Brandweek named Sortito Entertainment Marketer of the Year in 1998.

Before MGM, Sortito worked at MTV Network, also in marketing, helping to establish the cable brand. Sortito also held executive marketing positions at Paramount Pictures and Morgan Creek Productions. In 2002, she became executive vp of worldwide marketing Spyglass Entertainment, working on "Bruce Almighty" and "Seabiscuit."

Memorial services will be held in New York and Los Angeles.