Astronomer has been on the tip of many tongues around the world after the viral video of its CEO Andy Byron caught with HR Director Kristin Cabot at a Coldplay concert, made its rounds on social media. Media outlets picked up the salacious story as headline news, along with the many, many memes that resulted from the event. An intimate moment between two consenting adults has since resulted in two broken homes, two careers shattered, and, apparently, an opportunity for the company to capitalise on being in the limelight.
Over the weekend, the news spread about Gwyneth Paltrow being thrown into the mix on a “very temporary basis” as the spokesperson for Astronomer, which is helping keep the company in the news cycle. The BBC has called it a “clever” PR move that embraces the scandal. They launched the clip from Astronomer’s X account, which has been viewed 36.7 million times.
Thank you for your interest in Astronomer. pic.twitter.com/WtxEegbAMY
— Astronomer (@astronomerio) July 25, 2025
To their credit, Astronomer’s marketing team clearly understood the viral dynamics of modern media. The tongue-in-cheek humour is there. The nod to Coldplay’s broken home after their lead singer’s alleged affairs was there. The company’s key messages were there. What wasn’t there were empathy, trustworthiness and responsibility.
Also, this was not a ‘PR move’ – it was a marketing move. A PR move would have involved issuing a public statement across multiple channels about the company’s actions, how they planned to handle the situation and what values they abide by. While they shouldn’t take responsibility for what their CEO was doing in his personal life, they should take responsibility for what that means for the company.
A PR move would have involved communicating with their clients about how the actions of their CEO wouldn’t affect the service they have come to expect or the work that they do. It would also ensure that their company was protecting their reputation across all communication channels – not just in one video on one social media platform. By owning this narrative, they can help avoid letting others define them entirely.
This marketing ploy has allowed the company to make additional headlines. The old adage that “bad press is better than no press” is rampant. Unfortunately, this press doesn’t share any additional insight into what they do or who they are. Instead, it’s news of them mocking the situation in which they find themselves. The latest news cycle doesn’t provide information on who benefits from their services or reassurance that clients can continue to trust in what they offer.
The video is a marketing stunt which has paid off in terms of the company name staying top of mind, but it doesn’t add to its reputation as a data-driven company. It showcases them as a “funny tech” company that can lean into a crisis situation with a sense of humour but not necessarily as a safe, reliable or trusted business partner. Companies often rely on humour and use it strategically in moments of scandal or public embarrassment as a way to deflect, disarm and differentiate. This works well when done in a timely way and with an appropriate approach. In this case, the video was released too late to be effective and its appropriateness is up for debate.
In any crisis situation, companies want to lead the conversation so they can come out ahead. This particular video has led the conversation towards humour and tried to relate it back to the company itself, but hasn’t shown any empathy for the families and people who are directly suffering the consequences of Byron and Cabot’s actions. Many on X are commenting that “they think adultery and marriage is a joke…”
Hopefully, this marks the end of the incident and things will return to business as usual for the company in the coming weeks. The company will likely always be linked to the scandal as a footnote but may be able to grow away from it. Let this be a reminder: virality doesn’t equal good PR. In an era where reputation is data (and in this case, where data is their reputation), every response counts.
Do you think Astronomer handled this well? Let us know in the comments.