Purina has launched a new national campaign featuring the men and women who proudly make Beneful Brand Dog Food, talking about why they feed it to their own dogs.
The commercial, captured at Purina’s Atlanta, Georgia, USA, factory, highlights the care and accountability that goes into every bag of Beneful – and dispels misinformation about the quality and safety of one of Purina’s best brands in the wake of a class action lawsuit the company calls “baseless.” Purina associates, featured with their pets, talk about their pride and confidence in the product that millions of dogs eat every day across America.
Purina associates share a “not on my watch” sentiment that lives up to Purina’s long-standing values and standards:
“After working here, there’s no other food that I would feed my pets,” says Tom, an operations performance manager.
“There are no short cuts. We go above and beyond to make sure you have top-quality dog food. My dogs love it,” says Brandon, an ingredient unloader.
“We’re not just making it for your pets, we’re feeding it to our own pets, and we know it’s good,” says Cliff, a materials accounting coordinator.
Juli Plassmeyer, Purina’s vice president of dog food marketing, says the “I Stand Behind Beneful” campaign began as an internal rallying cry, but the Purina pride was so compelling that they decided to share it with fellow pet lovers, retailers and critics.
The campaign includes a TV commercial as well as digital and print advertising featuring Atlanta associates and their beloved pets. The national exposure debuted with a full-page ad in The New York Times.
“We know Beneful is a quality, nutritious, safe dog food,” Plassmeyer says. “Nobody cares more about pets than Purina, and there’s something very powerful when our own people say – ‘I make Beneful dog food, I feed Beneful to my pets, and I’m proud to work for Purina.’”
“We’re pet owners, too, and we will never compromise the trust consumers place in our products,” Plassmeyer adds.
The class action lawsuit, filed in February, included allegations about a popular product that has never been the subject of recall. More than 9.5 million households feed their dogs Beneful each day and in 2014 alone, 1.5 billion Purina Beneful meals were served to 15 million dogs.
