The Beneful brand of dog food was introduced to the market in 2001. It was marketed on the basis of nutrition and appearance; it resembled stew and contained beef pieces. According to a company spokesperson, the term "Beneful" means "full of goodness". A $34-million Beneful television advertising campaign that aired that year was the largest in Nestle Purina's history. By the end of 2006, Beneful was generating $300 million in revenues.In the same year the company invested $36 million to upgrade facilities in St. Joseph, Missouri to produce more wet food. In 2010, Beneful attempted to "humanize" its dog food and introduced IncrediBites, a food in stay-fresh packaging with a smaller kibble size.
Beneful released a series of posters in Germany designed to attract dogs by releasing the smell of dog food. Following the poster promotion, in 2011, Beneful started airing television ads in Austria that included high pitch noises only dogs could hear to elicit a response from pets. Interactive billboards from Beneful were released in New York in May 2012, allowing people to play virtual fetch in a subway station. The dogs on the billboard can be customized and will follow a passerby to engage them. The billboards have also been installed in Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta and St. Louis.Beneful hosts an annual competition, the Beneful Dream Dog Park Contest, in which dog park designs are submitted for renovations. In 2013, 1,000 dog park designs were submitted for the $500,000 renovation. The program has produced parks in Johns Creek, Georgia,Alabaster, Alabama, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania.