Astronomer winks at viral notoriety with ‘temporary spokesperson’ Gwyneth Paltrow
After spending the past week-plus in the headlines due to a seemingly inescapable social media scandal, data operations startup Astronomer is trying to shift the narrative with a tongue-in-cheek video starring actress and entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow.
Paltrow was, of course, previously married to Coldplay singer Chris Martin. And it was at a Coldplay concert in Massachusetts that the company’s CEO Andy Byron and Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot were apparently caught dancing together on the “kiss cam.”
When Byron and Cabot (who are reportedly married to other people) awkwardly tried to hide from the camera, Martin joked, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”
Footage of the exchange exploded in popularity, ultimately leading both executives to resign from Astronomer. In announcing Byron’s resignation, the company said, “Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met.”
Astronomer’s statement also nodded at the fact that the company had suddenly become famous for reasons having nothing to do with its product: “While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not.”
Its new marketing video has a similar message, attempting to refocus the conversation on Astronomer’s technology, while winkingly acknowledging why that might be a challenge.
Paltrow kicks things off by introducing herself as someone who’s been “hired on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of the 300-plus employers at Astronomer.” She then promises to answer the “most common” questions asked about the company — but when the briefly glimpsed, half-typed questions are all about you-know-what, Paltrow remains cheerfully, and resolutely, on-message.
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“We’ve been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation,” she says. Paltrow even finds time to plug the company’s upcoming conference before concluding, “We will now be returning to what we do best — delivering game-changing results for our customers.”
Anthony Ha is TechCrunch’s weekend editor. Previously, he worked as a tech reporter at Adweek, a senior editor at VentureBeat, a local government reporter at the Hollister Free Lance, and vice president of content at a VC firm. He lives in New York City.
