In a viral moment, tech firm Astronomer found itself at the centre of Coldplay’s infamous “kiss cam” moment when CEO Andy Byron and HR head Kristin Cabot were caught embracing during a concert in Boston.
Both, swiftly resigned as the footage spread rapidly online.
To contain the damage, Astronomer took an unexpected turn—hiring Gwyneth Paltrow, ex-wife of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, as its temporary spokesperson. In a tongue-in-cheek video released on 25 July, she introduced herself seated at a desk and cheekily addressed the public curiosity: “I’ve been hired on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of the 300‑plus employees at Astronomer.”
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The promo cleverly sidestepped the scandal. One on-screen question read:
"OMG! What the actual f—?"
Before it could finish, Paltrow cut in: “Yes! Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow…” She then dodged another unfinished question about the social media team by pitching Astronomer’s upcoming Beyond Analytics conference in September, all while pitching the company’s data automation strengths.
The campaign was masterminded by Ryan Reynolds’ ad agency Maximum Effort, and it worked—fast. With over 30 million views, it flipped a potential PR disaster into an opportunity for Astronomer to rebound. Pete DeJoy, the interim CEO, praised the effort for revitalising public interest and turning misfortune into notoriety.
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