Will Arnett Promotes DumbDumb

Will Arnett is one half of the branded entertainment production company DumbDumb, which he founded with Jason Bateman back in early 2010. Under that banner, the duo has since produced a handful of original web series with household brand names attached, this includes a selection of Dirty Shorts for Orbitz and a extremely successful celebrity talk show hosted inside your local neighborhood Denny’s dubbed Always Open. The creators of the popular first-person shooter Call of Duty also recently tapped Arnett and Bateman’s DumbDumb to create premium companion programming for the video game’s soon-to-be debuted online entertainment hub.

Check it out and think about the fact Arnett, who’s in a new NBC sitcom along with Christina Applegate and whose cult series Arrested Development is lighting up Google Trends with news of a movie and mini TV run – spent half his time on a cable television talk show talking about his online branded entertainment company instead of any of his current projects.
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DumbDumb Co-Founder to Star in New NBC Comedy

This year’s TV upfront week revealed a new project in the works for actor Will Arnett, a co-founder of DumbDumb, an Electus partner. The announcement came from NBC, the network with one of the most anticipated lineups. In “Up All Night,” Arnett will play a stay-at-home husband to Christina Applegate, who also serves as one of the show’s producers, alongside “Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels and writer Emily Spivey. Maya Rudolph, another familiar face from “Saturday Night Live” who is most recently known from “Bridesmaids,” will also star in the pilot, as Applegate’s best friend and boss.

The show will mark Applegate’s return to television, two years after “Samantha Who?” was cancelled. Since then, the actress has appeared in movies including “Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore,” “Going the Distance,” and “Hall Pass.”

Arnett will also guest-star on the season finale of “The Office” tonight, which will be Steve Carell’s last show. As the season closes and we bid Carell adieu, we assure you there’s more to come from Electus, so stay tuned!

Amy Poehler Stars in Electus' and DumbDumb’s Latest Project

Mediabistro seems to have taken to DumbDumb (a partner of Electus) and its latest project involving a string of A-list comedians and Denny’s restaurant chain. Both Tonya Garcia and Kiran Aditham have written about the most recent video to come from the project, the “Always Open” web series hosted by David Koechner. The video at hand features Amy Poehler, the hilarious star of “Saturday Night Live” and “Parks and Recreation.” Over breakfast, she and Koechner chat about life and work, and it seems like Poehler gets a little creeped out by the overeager host. He calls her his “little sister” more than once and is a bit too hands-on for the comedian to handle. She shakes his hand off of her shoulder, but as always, Poehler remains a good sport.

Poehler is one of a handful of comedians who have made appearances in the web series, including Sarah Silverman, Jason Bateman and Will Arnett—who also happens to be her husband. The next episode will feature Kristin Bell, and we can’t wait to see what DumbDumb and Electus have in store for us for that one!

"Always Open" Campaign Rakes in Hits

Since Electus and DumbDumb’s successful launch of the “Always Open” web series for Denny’s restaurant chain, the hilarious videos have seen a spike in viewers and plenty of positive feedback. A recent article from SHOOT Online discussed how Electus is an example of how the industry can explore and employ various possibilities for connecting brands.

The publication talked to one of the recent stars from the web series, funnyman Will Arnett, about the link between brands and entertainment, and the possibility of eventually creating a motion picture.

"Absolutely the potential is there for that kind of feature-length project,” he said. “That’s the direction it’s going in. For years, brands have participated in this town, in movies, in television. They’ve put dollars into budgets, served as partners. We’re all figuring out more and more how to do this and it might increasingly cut out the middle man. If you can talk to a brand directly and gain an understanding of what they’re trying to do, who they’re trying to reach, you can develop the appropriate content. We’ll try to address this, going to a brand and saying, ‘We think this piece of content will reach the audience you’re trying to reach.’”

The web series focuses on the conversations between host David Koechner and an actor—usually a comedian like Arnett or Sarah Silverman—have over pancakes in a Denny’s booth. Each video is three minutes long and can be viewed on Denny’s YouTube channel.

New Campaign Helps Denny's Reel in Hipsters

Looks like DumbDumb and Ben Silverman were right on the money when they launched a new campaign for Denny's, the popular pancake restaurant that previously catered to a mostly older demographic. The "Always Open" campaign includes a comedic web series starring Jason Bateman, Sarah Silverman, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett and more. Over plates of flapjacks in a real Denny's booth, the comedians chat with host David Koechner.

Since the online shorts launched on March 9, the company has noticed a rise in younger customers, and its BrandIndex Impression score has risen from 6.2 to 25.4. To bring the videos to life, Denny's partnered with Electus, Ben Silverman's multimedia studio, and DumbDumb for digital content and production. The BrandIndex scores from YouGov reveal a changing attitude toward the Denny's brand, most noticeably in the 18-34 year-old demographic.

The lineup of respected comedians in the shorts is likely the winning factor that's getting the attention of hipsters. The increase of approval from a younger generation doesn't mean the baby boomers-- who were thought to make up the majority of the restaurant's customers-- are stepping aside. Young or old, there will be enough flapjacks for everyone.

DumbDumb and Energy BBDO take home Golden Pencil

It is only the beginning of the awards season but already producers have taken home their first trophies. Energy BBDO, and Will Arnett and Jason Bateman from DumbDumb won Gold at One Show Entertainment with its “Dirty Shorts” campaign for Orbit. The Gold Pencil at the One Show Entertainment Awards ceremony took place in the beginning of the week in Los Angeles and honored the best merger between entertainment and brands. “Dirty Shorts” was created in a partnership between Energy BBDO and DumbDumb, a digital production and content studio, backed by Ben Silverman's digital entertainment studio, Electus.

The series is a compilation of original branded short films with “the Dancer” and “The Prom Date” being the highlights. In “The Dancer” Bateman dresses up as a drag queen that hands out Orbit in order to clean up dirty minds of the strip club’s customers and attendants. Since its initial introduction the Orbit films have received 2.7 million views. Dan Fietsam, chief creative officer at Energy BBDO, spoke about his perception of the honor at the festival. "We see this honor as a testament to innovative energy, creative ambition and lots of "what's possible thinking," he said.

Click here to view the original article on the Gold Pencil and DumbDumb.

Ben Silverman looks for staff for recently purchased Engine Distribution

Ben Silverman purchased the international distribution company Electus/Engine Distribution earlier this week and is not planning on making this international TV purchase his last. Electus CEO Silverman has a new global distribution division in mind, which will have offices in Miami, New York, and Los Angeles. Chris Philip from Engine Entertainment will become the president and will be responsible of running the overseas offices. Engine COO Chris Moreton is going to be Engine’s executive vice president and will assist Philip in managing the offices.

Silverman stated that he is still looking to staff the company with sales personnel. "We have some great people in place but we're potentially looking for one more person in the mix," he explained. He further pointed out that Electus would continue targeting partnerships with international distributors and producers. Partnerships in the past have been with IAC sister companies College Humor and Notional, run by Ricky Van Veen, Israeli producer Abbot Reif Hameiri, US reality producers 5x5 Media, Jason Bateman and Will Arnett's DumbDumb, and Tony DiSanto and Liz Gateley's DiGa.

"We've been working in a surgical and strategic way with College Humor and Notional and DiGa," Silverman stated. "We're going to continue to bring in partners."

Click here to view the original article.

Electus and DumbDumb clip in Top 100 Videos of 2010

The partnership of CEO Ben Silverman’s next generation studio Electus and the advertising and production company DumbDumb have made it in the Top 100 Videos of 2010. The short advertising clip “Dirty Shorts-The Prom Date” features DumbDumb founders Jason Bateman as the overprotective father and Will Arnett as the sleazy high school teacher taking out 18 year old daughter. The clip was sponsored by Wrigley's Orbit gum and promotes the product by using comedy and combining it with product placement.

The clip is ranked number 46 on the Gawker.TV list. Next to humor, the tagline “a good clean feeling no matter what” at the end of the clip is used to promote Orbit gum.

Click here to view the original listing.

Recreating Advertising for the Age of Viral

DumbDumb, a production company led by Arrested Development alumni Will Arnett and Jason Bateman, have recently started to change the world of advertising online. Ben Silverman's multimedia company, Electus has an exclusive partnership with DumbDumb, which will package the original digital content within Electus' Comedy division where they will be partnered with advertisers to create original commercials and programming for distribution across multiple media platforms, including television and film. They have linked up with brand names like Wrigley's Orbit chewing gum, promoting their most recent web release, "The Dancer."

Click here to read more about Electus's DumbDumb from The Mark.