MUMBAI: Revolutionary branding executive Karen Sortito, who helped resurrect the James Bond franchise expired of cancer on Monday in New York. She was 49.

Having come from MTV, Sortito represented a new breed of marketer for the film business. She came from MTV, where, straight out of Southern Connecticut State College in 1983, she helped define the brand during the network‘s formative years.

She also worked at 20th Century Fox Film Corp., Paramount, Morgan Creek Prods., Revolution Studios, Spyglass Entertainment and NYC & Company, the city‘s official marketing and partnership agency.

As head of worldwide promotions for MGM/UA, Sortito helped negotiate high-end promotional deals with the likes of BMW for millions of dollars, which contributed to the cost of making and advertising GoldenEye (1995), the first Bond film in six years.

While MGM/UA were in a reshuffling of management mode, Sortito spent three years consulting in various capacities and in 2002 joined Spyglass as executive vp worldwide marketing under Gary Barber, her former boss at Morgan Creek, and his partner, Roger Birnbaum.

Sortito is survived by her mother, Phyllis Sortito; her sisters, Mary Sortito and Diane Ritucci; her brother-in-law Louis Ritucci and two nephews.