Client overview
Ascent Protein is a Denver-based sports nutrition company founded in 2016 with roots in more than 30 years of dairy and protein production. The brand manufactures all of its products in-house and distributes through both direct-to-consumer and retail channels nationwide.
Ascent stands out in a crowded category by focusing on clean, minimal ingredient formulations designed to support athletic performance. Its product lineup includes native whey protein, plant-based protein, micellar casein, creatine, and hydration products – all free from artificial flavors or sweeteners and certified for banned substance testing.
Challenge
When Ascent Protein approached Parallel Path, they faced a challenge common to many emerging CPG wellness brands: a premium product with clear advantages in quality and taste, but limited brand recognition and difficulty reaching consumers at critical points in the digital purchase journey. Without an established retail footprint, Ascent relied heavily on direct-to-consumer sales, which placed pressure on their digital presence to drive both awareness and conversion.
To support their mission of naturally improving athletic performance, they needed a refreshed go-to-market strategy that could effectively introduce the brand to new consumers and drive sustained growth.
Our Strategy
Parallel Path began the engagement by focusing on strategies designed to capture existing demand from consumers already searching for clean, high-quality protein. We prioritized performance-focused channels like paid search and SEO to improve visibility for Ascent Protein and drive efficient customer acquisition through their direct-to-consumer site.
After establishing early success, our strategy evolved to support awareness-building for both legacy products like whey protein and new SKUs such as plant protein and recovery water. To support this phase, we activated upper-funnel channels like paid social and display, aligning messaging to introduce products and strengthen brand consideration. At every step, our approach was designed to align with Ascent’s evolving go-to-market roadmap, including their expansion from DTC into Amazon, grocery, and big box retail.
Execution
Parallel Path deployed a full-funnel media strategy that adapted to Ascent’s changing business priorities and retail presence. We executed high-efficiency paid search campaigns to capture intent-rich queries and layered on SEO enhancements to grow organic visibility. These foundational efforts quickly improved paid return on ad spend by 127% and increased organic site traffic by 32%.
As the brand’s footprint grew, we launched geo-targeted campaigns around key retail pilots—including Costco test markets—using tailored creative assets and user-generated content to drive in-store demand. Paid social on Instagram and YouTube, as well as display advertising, supported top-of-funnel awareness and product education.
Services Provided
Paid Media Strategy and Management
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Creative Concepting
Channel Analysis
Media Planning
Retail Support
Sales Enablement
Reporting and Analysis
Results
Parallel Path’s work with Ascent Protein helped establish a digital foundation that not only delivered immediate performance gains, but also enabled the brand to scale into new channels with confidence. By driving greater efficiency across direct-to-consumer paid and organic strategies, we provided Ascent with a profitable and reliable growth engine—allowing them to expand into Amazon, grocery, and eventually big box retail with stronger margins and a track record of influencing both new and repeat purchases online and in-store.
During our partnership:
- Revenue from digital marketing increased by 105%, even as spend decreased by 9%
- Revenue from returning customers rose by 81%
- Revenue from new customers grew by 28%
- Ascent.com revenue increased year-over-year throughout the partnership
- Multiple record-setting months and days of revenue were achieved, including standout results during peak sales periods like Black Friday Cyber Monday in consecutive years
These results reflect a brand that successfully navigated the growth journey many CPG brands struggle with—transforming strong product-market fit into scalable, multi-channel performance.
digital marketing revenue
Return Customer Revenue
New Customer Revenue
“We are having our best year yet, and Parallel Path has been a key reason for that. They have a better approach to digital marketing than we've seen from other agencies and have consistently exceeded our business goals since day one. I would recommend them to anyone who is looking to accelerate their growth plans.”