TracyLocke, a global communications agency and a subsidiary of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC), has promoted Carol Pernikar to chief strategy officer. Pernikar originally joined TracyLocke in 2015 as an integral hire during the opening of the agency’s Chicago office.
Moving forward, Pernikar will continue to partner with Hugh Boyle, TracyLocke’s CEO, and Lovegrove, president and chief creative officer, leading the strategic product for TracyLocke across all of their clients. She will work with TracyLocke’s executive committee to continue to build, develop and grow the strategic planning team in all offices for both TracyLocke and Haygarth.
Lovegrove commented, “Carol has been the strategic backbone of the Chicago office, contributing elevated thought leadership and a strong POV on global SC Johnson projects, Kellogg’s initiatives, and new business opportunities. As a result of her uncompromising work ethic, passion and teamwork, the Chicago office delivers our company’s most strategically inspired work. I have no doubt we are about to experience the next generation of our strategic potential.”
Pernikar brings with her 25 years of experience in the marketing industry, a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, an MBA from Northeastern University, and a postgraduate certificate from the Sorbonne.
Vatican, Microsoft Create AI-Generated St. Peter’s Basilica–For In-Person and Virtual Visitors
The Vatican and Microsoft on Monday unveiled a digital twin of St. Peter's Basilica that uses artificial intelligence to explore one of the world's most important monument's while helping the Holy See manage visitor flows and identify conservation problems. Using 400,000 high-resolution digital photographs, taken with drones, cameras and lasers over four weeks when no one was in the basilica, the digital replica is going online alongside two new on-site exhibits to provide visitors -- real and virtual -- with an interactive experience. "It is literally one of the most technologically advanced and sophisticated projects of its kind that has ever been pursued," Microsoft's president Brad Smith told a Vatican press conference. The project has been launched ahead of the Vatican's 2025 Jubilee, a holy year in which more than 30 million pilgrims are expected to pass through the basilica's Holy Door, on top of the 50,000 who visit on a normal day. "Everyone, really everyone should feel welcome in this great house," Pope Francis told Smith and members of the project's development teams at an audience Monday. The digital platform allows visitors to reserve entry times to the basilica, a novelty for one of the world's most visited monuments that regularly has an hours-long line of tourists waiting to get in. But the heart of the project is the creation of a digital twin of St. Peter's Basilica through advanced photogrammetry and artificial intelligence that allows anyone to "visit" the church and learn about its history. The ultra-precise 3D replica, developed in collaboration with digital preservation company Iconem, incorporates 22 petabytes of data — enough to fill five million DVDs — Smith said. The images have already identified structural... Read More