From Astronomer Coldplay kiss cam to Sex and the City, leaked videos and ‘d**k pics’: PR crisis dreams and nightmares
Gwyneth Paltrow delivered a masterplay in PR crisis management for Astronomer after the Coldplay kiss cam scandal, but not all businesses are as clever. Staying silent or being slow to act can lead to greater damage.
Confidential
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We’ve all seen the video by now.
No not the moment which exploded online of Astronomer’s CEO and the company’s chief people officer caught in an intimate embrace on the stadium jumbotron at a Coldplay concert. But Gwyneth Paltrow’s satirical business-focused video for the US start-up, turning a viral meme at its expense into a modern day case study of PR gold.
In crisis management businesses often fall into the three R’s – React, Reflect and Resolve.
Rather than shying away from the spotlight, Astronomer enlisted Paltrow a business owner, Oscar winning actor and the ex-wife of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin – for a short social video. A masterplay that has sparked industry applause.
More often than not it is not the disaster a company faces, but the way it is later handled that becomes more memorable.
The cost of getting it wrong can lead to potentially millions of dollars in damage, inside and out. But the cost of getting it right? Control of the message, credibility, and a chance to turn a mess like Astronomer into momentum.
Flourish public relations and communications agency founder Angela Ceberano, who has had more than 20 years in the industry working with big brands from Sony Music to Avalon Airport, Luna Park and Capital Alliance, says it’s often not the crisis itself that causes the most damage, but the delay, silence or poorly prepared spokesperson.
“In a crisis, you either shape the story or the story shapes you,” Ceberano told the Herald Sun.
“Handled well, a crisis can build trust and humanise a brand. Handled poorly, it can trigger backlash, financial loss, and long-term reputational damage.
“The brands that get it right are the ones who act quickly, speak clearly, and show up as human.”
She says in today’s fastpaced 24/7 media landscape a business has about “seven minutes” to act before speculation, fake statements or rumours and memes take over.
“If you’re still waiting on five layers of internal sign-off, the story is already writing itself, without you,” she said.
She says the biggest mistake is often letting the legal team rewrite a statement until every ounce of humanity is gone.
“I treat crisis comms like a fire drill. We train teams to be ready before anything goes wrong. We simulate and drill the tough stuff. We pressure-test responses. We help leaders know exactly who speaks, when, and how. Whether the crisis is likely, or laughably unlikely … until it’s not.”
SOME PR GOLD DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES
COLDPLAY-GATE
When AI tech company Astronomer found itself at the centre of a viral workplace love affair scandal, Gwyneth Paltrow was hired to save face.
CEO Andy Byron and HR head Kristin Calbot – both married to other people – were caught in a compromising situation at a Coldplay concert that went viral online. The fallout saw both Byron and Calbot resign.
In a bold move to deflect from the growing negative press, Oscar winning Paltrow was recruited as a “temporary spokesperson” to represent the “300 plus employees” at the company.
The promo video, meant to explain the AI tech company after receiving “a lot of questions over the last few days”.
“OMG What the actual f,” is typed on the screen.
“Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow, unifying the experience of running data ML and AI pipelines at scale,” Paltrow said.
“We have been thrilled that so many people have a new found interest in data workflow automation.”
AND JUST LIKE THAT: DEATH BY PELOTON
In 2022 Sex and the City fans were shocked when Mr Big – played by Chris Noth – suffered a post workout death after suffering from a heart attack following a 45 minute spin on a Peloton in the iconic series reboot And Just Like That.
Shares for the exercise bike quickly nosedived with the company cycling into damage control.
Within 48 hours Ryan Reynold’s marketing firm Maximum Effort jumped into action.
A 40-second ad showed Noth alive and well, cozied up on a couch with real life Peloton instructor Jess King.
“Should we take another ride?” Noth said, while Reynolds’ voiceover assured viewers that Noth was healthy and lists off some of the health benefits of the Peloton.
GRILL’D PIPE DREAMS
When ex-Grill’d boss Geoff Bainbridge claimed he was being extorted over a leaked video of him smoking what appeared to be an ice pipe, he was caught with his pants down.
Bainbridge claimed he was the victim of extortion, insisting the footage was from a wild night in Asia.
There was a distinctive light fitting in the background of his home movie, where he had one hand on the glass pipe and the other on, er, a different sort of pipe.
Things unravelled for the burger boss when the Herald Sun’s Page 13 noticed that the light fitting in the video looked suspiciously like those from a Middle Park home listed under Bainbridge’s name.
Some sleuthing found the house with those light fittings, not to mention some similar window shutters and split system airconditioner, was owned by Geoffrey Leonard Bainbridge.
Geoff Bainbridge might be a great entrepreneur, but he should probably learn how to blur the background of his videos before his career went up in a puff of smoke.
HO HO HUH? UNHINGED CHRISTMAS COMMENTS
Recruitment agency Sharp & Carter executive and founder Stephen Carter went viral for all the wrong reasons after giving a bizarre Christmas party pep talk to his staff last December.
The Herald Sun revealed that when Carter warned his 203 employees of the ramifications of drugs and infidelity during the silly season he instead launched himself into a viral online confessional.
“I take drugs myself, I just don’t do it at work events” he said.
“If you want to cheat on your partner I would recommend 2024 has been a stark reminder it is probably not wise to cheat on your partner with someone at work,” Carter went on.
His unhinged comments spread like wildfire online.
He later issued an apology for his “inappropriate” and “condescending” speech.
“The only illicit drug I have ever used in marijuana,” Carter said.
“I am deeply sorry for the distress I have caused Sharp & Carter’s staff and for the negative attention I have attracted to a business that deeply cares for its more than 200 staff and insists on the highest standards of behaviour and integrity,” he wrote.
Carter’s apology comes after one of Sharp & Carter’s major client, the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, said they were “extremely disappointed”.
“This is a very serious matter, we will be assessing our partnership moving forward,” the Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee said.
COCK-UP CONSULTANCY
Former long-time PwC Australia boss Luke Sayers stood down from his consultancy firm and as president of the AFL’s Carlton Football Club over a “penis photo scandal”.
A photo of a penis, more commonly known in the industry as a lewd “dick pic” was posted by Sayers’ Twitter/X account, tagging a female executive at health insurance group BUPA, one of Carlton’s sponsors.
Sayers would later stand down as Carlton president, as well as take a leave of absence from the multimillion consultancy he founded in 2020 after leaving PwC Australia, a company not without its own reputational damage.
The consulting firm later rebranded as Tenet Advisory & Investments.
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