Meet the Campus • Professor Emile Lancee
3 November 2017
Emile Lancee: a professor who does not go unnoticed around the VU, especially if you’ve ever had him as your teacher. For 13 years, Lancee has been working at our university and is specialized in the Digital Marketing Strategy field. He teaches Marketing classes to Bachelor, Master and PTm Master Marketing students. Also, he often drops by at other educational facilities like Windesheim, HvA and HHS. And as if this were not enough yet, he is also a well-known keynote speaker when it comes to digital marketing. Fun fact: he wrote seven books about digital marketing topics!
We sat down with Emile to discuss his work and his career, but also had the time to ask him some fun questions about his most awkward lecture moment, his hobbies, and his favorite…
- Food: Japanese, Suriname and Thais
- Color: Pink
- Artist/Band: Michael Jackson, the Weeknd, Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran & Adele
- Animal: I do not particular like animals, but if I have to choose; lion, giraffe and a Bengal cat.
- Holiday destination: Dubai and Paris
- Season (and why): All the seasons in the Netherlands are great because of the variety between them. I like the sun, but that is only because summer comes after a period of bad weather.
- App (and why): The combination of Spotify and Sonos, an App that provides music throughout my whole house.
- Series: House of cards, Homeland and Nip-Tuck
- Film: The Wolf of Wallstreet
- Book: For leisure: Da vinci code, Marketing book: the long tail
- Marketing model: This is a hard one, but at this moment my favorite model is N-REL. Which has to do with Social Media planning.
Has it always been your ambition to work in the Marketing field?
Actually not. When I had to choose a study, I was interested in Notarial Law in Leiden. But, it was not what I expected it to be. So I decided to pick a very broad study: Economics. During this study you had to specialize, so I chose Marketing. Besides studying, I had side jobs that had to do with Marketing.
You used to be a DJ if I am correct?
Haha, that is right. I think every young boy is a DJ at one point. I started when I was 16 years old and stopped when I was 22. I normally played at school parties.
Why did you start teaching?
That sort of started naturally. Before I started working at the VU, I taught Economics at STEBO, a private education facility. When I finished my studies at the VU, I got a job offered by the University itself, which I accepted. At first, I only worked there part-time, since I had to focus on my own business as well: Arts Universal.
Arts Universal is a company which produces big theatre productions. We mostly did that in Asia and the Middle East. Besides, I have put up other companies related to the internet.
What is the most awkward/strangest/funniest thing that ever happened during a lecture?
Well, funny that you ask! This has happened to me 3 times already. But this one time, I was the keynote speaker at the Direct Marketing Awards, an event where the best Marketer is awared. There were 400-500 people in the room. Just before I had to speak, I remembered that I forgot something in my car. So, I went out to get it. As I was reaching for the documents, I ripped out of my pants. Not just a little hole appeared.. All the way from the top of the seam to the bottom got ripped out! It was really awkward. The people from IT had to tape my pants back together and it was extremely uncomfortable because the tape was taped on my legs!
It is hard to imagine, but professors probably also have a life outside of the VU. What do you like to do in your free time?
The past 5 years I have been writing books in my free time. I liked that a lot. Also, I am crazy about Fitness, but unfortunately I did not have much time to do that the past 2 years. All my free time goes into my son Dali, who just turned 1 year old.
Do you have any future ambitions?
One day, I would like to write a New York Times bestseller, but who knows. Also Prime Minister of the Netherlands seems nice. Yet again, who knows….
Do you have any tips for students who want to pursue a career in the Marketing field?
In Marketing there are a lot of chances. Especially in the digital marketing field. Organizations increasingly need digital marketers who, in addition to having knowledge of marketing theories, can also deal with Big Data. Marketeers need to be good at analysing data. The statistical subjects are becoming more and more important.
Did Emile get you excited about Marketing? Then sign up for the Big Data Marketing day of the Aureus Business Month on November 29th below!
(applications close on November 23rd)