Astronomer's 'clever' PR move embracing CEO scandal - featuring Gwyneth Paltrow

Astronomer, a US technology company that helps other businesses manage their data, recently found itself in the middle of an unexpected scandal. The company’s CEO, Andy Byron, and chief people officer, Kristin Cabot, were caught on camera embracing at a Coldplay concert. The video quickly went viral, and suddenly, Astronomer was being talked about everywhere, but not for its technology. To address the situation, Astronomer released a humorous promotional video featuring Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who was once married to Coldplay’s lead singer, Chris Martin. In the video, Paltrow acts as a temporary spokesperson and answers some of the most common questions people have been asking about Astronomer since the scandal. She jokes about the situation, saying Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow, a popular data workflow tool, and that the company is excited about the new interest in data workflow automation. The video has been viewed more than 27 million times, making it a viral sensation in its own right.

PR expert Jordan Greenaway commented that Astronomer’s approach was clever. He explained that while everyone had seen the video of the CEO at the concert, most people didn’t actually know what Astronomer did. By using humor and a celebrity like Gwyneth Paltrow, the company managed to shift the conversation from the scandal to their actual business. Greenaway said that using humor in a crisis doesn’t always work, but in this case, it was a good strategy because the scandal wasn’t about the quality of Astronomer’s product. Instead, the company was able to poke fun at the situation without making light of their work. He also pointed out that if the scandal had been about the product itself, joking about it would have been a bad idea.

After the video from the concert went viral, both Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot resigned from their positions at Astronomer. The company quickly appointed Pete DeJoy, one of the co-founders, as the interim CEO. Astronomer also released a statement saying that they are committed to high standards of conduct and accountability, and that they had started a formal investigation into the incident. Despite the negative attention, the company saw a huge increase in interest, with reports of a 15,000 percent spike in visits to their website. Astronomer, which was founded in 2018, works with big companies like Apple, Ford, and Uber, helping them use artificial intelligence and manage their data. Pete DeJoy said that while the attention was unusual, Astronomer is now a household name. The company hopes that people will remember them for their technology and services, not just the viral video from the Coldplay concert.