Astronomer's 'clever' PR move embracing CEO scandal

BBC News

15 hours ago

The US tech firm whose CEO and chief people officer resigned after being caught on camera embracing at a Coldplay concert has released a tongue-in-cheek promotional video featuring Gwyneth Paltrow as a "temporary spokesperson".In the 60-second clip posted on Astronomer's X account, Hollywood star Paltrow - who was married to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin for more than 10 years - says she wants to answer "the most" common questions the company has recently been asked.The first of these questions, appearing as captions on screen, reads "OMG! What the actual f", to which Paltrow responds: "Yes, Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow", she ends the answer by claiming the company is "thrilled so may people have a "newfound interest in data workflow automation."When a follow up question asks how the company's social media team is "holding" after the clip went viral, Paltrow says spaces are still available for a forthcoming conference. Paltrow signs off the clip, which has been viewed over 27 million times by thanking viewers for their "interest in Astronomer", saying the company will now be returning "to what it does best."
"It's a really clever video," Jordan Greenaway, CEO of PR firm Profile says. "Everyone has heard about this scandal, everyone has seen the video. But if you'd gone down the street and asked someone who the CEO of Astronomer was, they'd say 'the guy in the Coldplay video', but if you then asked 'what does Astronomer actually do or sell, they would probably say 'they're kind of a tech company.'" Greenaway says the video going viral probably won't have too much of a negative impact on Astronomer going forward, as the viral scandal "doesn't strike at the heart of the quality of their product." He says the company's goal was to create brand awareness amongst the mass public so the company isn't just known as the one whose CEO had an affair. "I know there are some PRs whose default it is to lean into humour to bridge the scandal and get over the hump.""In most cases that doesn't work."But this is what Astronomer is attempting to do in this case," he says. "Rather than sidestepping things, they're jumping in with both feet. That's often a good strategy when a crisis is so big and well-known that you cannot easily duck it."
Greenaway compares it to the horsemeat scandal of 2013, when horsemeat was discovered in beef products across Europe, and says "it would not have been right to dress that up in humour by posing as a horse, for example, and giving a response."That could lead to your customers saying "this is something that attacked the quality of your product, and you're making light of it." The nature of this scandal gives Astronomer the flexibility to approach their response with a bit more humour because the company sells a data service, Greenaway continues. "They're not making fun of the quality of their product, they're making fun of their CEO, who has now resigned."
But Greenaway says while Astronomer can come out of this relatively unscathed, that isn't the case for Andy Byron. "He and his reputation are a different matter," he says. "If Andy Byron had made light of this, that would have been very unfair and very unethical, because he was the one undertaking in the bad behaviour." Byron had been CEO of Astronomer for two years when he and Kristin Cabot were caught on the giant screen at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts on 16 July. Greenaway says he would have taken "by and large the same strategy," that Astronomer has had he been involved in a situation like this. "I would have got rid of the CEO sooner. If possible I would have liked to have shown these type of leadership ethics at Astronomer are unacceptable. "But in terms of moving the discussion back to the company, and what it actually does, I don't think this is a bad way to go about it."I don't know if I would have had the courage to do what they are doing, but I hope I would have."
Interest in Astronomer, which describes itself as "the best place to run Apache Airflow" - a product not developed by Astronomer - increased hugely since the clip of its former CEO went viral, with some unverified reports suggesting a spike of 15,000% in visits to the company's website. The company was founded in 2018, and provides services for companies that want to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI). Astronomer says it has worked with Apple, Ford and Uber, the Wall Street Journal reports. Pete DeJoy, co-founder and chief product officer has been appointed as the company's interim CEO, and can at least see a positive to all the attention on his company. "The spotlight has been unusual and surreal for our team and, while I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name," he wrote on LinkedIn. The only previous statement the company had made was on X, two days after the Coldplay concert. "Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability," it said, while announcing a formal investigation had been launched. Seeing the moment Byron and Cabot hid from the camera from his position on stage, Coldplay's Chris Martin said: "Either they're having an affair, or they're just very shy."And if you're wondering what kind of PR impact this had on Paltrow's famous ex-husband and his band, Greenaway thinks it's neutral. "I don't think it increases awareness of them... the public at large have one thing in their head, and that's the Kiss Cam video. That drowns out all the other stuff."