I went to Scroll Forward last Friday. Here's my honest take on the first ever co
By Amklappenbach · September 22, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
I went to Scroll Forward last Friday. Here's my honest take on the first ever conference for marketers "who are done pretending everything is fine" - from a sponsor POV 👀
Modash has been a PLM partner for well over two years, BUT event sponsorships aren't actually part of our current partnership strategy.
I say no to them on a weekly basis... and when Sophie Miller reached out to tell me what they were cooking, I was ready to draft a kind "no".
But then Louisa Douglas Kent and Sophie pitched the event and I found myself saying "how much?" in an instant.
Why did I say yes?
Reason 1: Sophie herself.
If you've ever thought that Sophie Miller can't possibly be all fun and joy, and that the Pretty Little Marketer community is a scheme -
you couldn't be further from the truth.
Sorry to all the haters, but she really is that girl. And PLM really is that community.
Reason 2: The pitch.
Scroll Forward was pitched around value: actual problems, practical solutions, and marketers and speakers who actually know what they're talking about.
And that extended to the sponsors too.
Instead of "here's your booth, send us your logo", we were asked to think about what we could actually ADD to the experience.
What could Modash bring that would actually be useful to the people there?
One very good decision had already been made: the venue. Separate rooms, only active during breaks, meant sponsor activations could become little experiences of their own (= value, not sales pitches).
Which is how we ended up with the Ask the Expert room.
On a personal level, that was a bit of a full-circle moment for me 🥹
Ask the Expert has been part of PLM since March of last year, and I was actually one of the first marketers Sophie asked to be an expert!
A year and a half later, I was back doing it IRL - this time also representing Modash 🫶
We filled the room with sofas, armchairs and, most importantly, space to just... talk. People could come in, sit down and ask me about whatever they were working on. No demos, no sales pitches.
And they did!!
We talked influencer programs, affiliates, creators, measurement, problems people were trying to solve.
At one point, someone from a jewellery brand was telling us about their affiliate program, only to discover that one of THEIR AFFILIATES was coincidentally sitting right next to them 😂
That's probably what I liked most about the whole event: there was enough structure to make it useful, but enough space for conversations and connections to happen.
This is what I ask our Modash ambassadors: what value can we add that makes the experience / story better?
Scroll Forward gave its sponsors the space to do that.
And I learnt something new: event sponsorship works better when you're invited to contribute to the experience, not just pay to appear at it.
Well done, Sophie & team. I can't wait for next year!!