NatWest and Waitrose Become Founding Partners of 'The Amol Rajan Connection'
NatWest and Waitrose have signed on as founding partners of 'The Amol Rajan Connection,' a new journalist-led media platform — a sign the brand-funded content trend is moving upmarket into business and current affairs.
Blue-Chip Brands Back a Journalist's Media Venture
Broadcaster Amol Rajan has launched "The Amol Rajan Connection," an independent platform of long-form conversations on entrepreneurship, technology and social mobility spanning podcast, video, social and live UK events. Waitrose was announced as a founding launch partner on 23 September 2026, with NatWest confirmed the following day.
NatWest's tie-up is a 12-month deal spanning content and live events; the bank frames it around serving 19 million customers and backing one in five UK start-ups. Waitrose's involvement comes via the John Lewis Partnership.
The Creator Economy Grows Up
This is brand-funded content, but not as usual. Rather than sponsoring an influencer's lifestyle feed, these brands are underwriting serious business and current-affairs programming led by a trusted journalist — a move up the credibility ladder for the whole creator-media model.
For a bank and a premium grocer, the logic is association: aligning with intelligent, aspirational content reaches an audience that increasingly tunes out interruptive advertising. It is reach bought through relevance rather than frequency.
What This Means for Brand Builders
The opportunity for marketers is to think like publishers' patrons, not just advertisers. Founding-partner status buys deeper integration — and, crucially, first-mover association with a platform before its audience scales.
The risk is control. Backing independent journalism means accepting editorial distance; brands that try to over-manage the message will undermine the very trust they are buying. Our advice: fund the credibility, then get out of the way.
Quick FAQ
What is 'The Amol Rajan Connection'?
It is a new independent media platform from broadcaster Amol Rajan featuring long-form conversations on entrepreneurship, technology and social mobility across podcast, video, social and live UK events.
Which brands are founding partners?
Waitrose, via the John Lewis Partnership, and NatWest, whose 12-month deal spans content and live events.
Backing a trusted journalist's platform is a smarter play than another influencer deal — you buy credibility, not just reach. But the moment a brand tries to script the conversation, it loses the trust it paid for. Fund it, then trust the editorial. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
Brand-funded media works when brands buy association with credible content — and resist the urge to control it.
Would your brand back independent content it can't fully control if it bought real trust?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: LBBOnline, Televisual and the John Lewis Partnership.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
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