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Ooops! The Kiss Cam Crisis
Don't be like ___________ (your business), be more like Astronomer š
Kev Jones
August 16, 2025
Hey, Kev here and this is my āwhenever I post š ā digest of how you can simply, communicate better. Whether itās managing up, managing direct reports, trying to communicate your emotions to your partnerā thereās always a way we can Say It Better!
Defense < Offense
At Stepwise we believe that too many newly elected and appointed officials get stuck playing defense; And the board of Astronomer handled the Kiss Cam Crisis case as a black belt on how sad moments turn silly.
Remember?
Greetings and Salutations
So, I have leaned a lot into my own experiences when starting conversations about managing up or down the ladder, but I haven't talked enough about real time events and how managing your comms is critical; where we've seen crisis averted and where reactionary responses became a cultural moment we all have embraced. So, here's a shot at that!
Now, we all know where we were on July 16th. We engaged in posts, shared memes, I mean the entire world made this incident a moment in history on the 2025 calendar!
Here's 3 lessons from Andy Byron's Kiss Cam Scandal, the former CEO of Astronomer
1. Your communications team needs to move quickly with transparency.
I used to work in government and I was very adamant that my elected didn't end up behind the curve on current events. The biggest problem I've seen with leaders who are in an elected or appointed space is that they respond SLOOOOW. Why? Because they want to get it 'right', but then they end up screwing up anyways [quite unfortunate]. In this situation, Astronomerās board immediately launched an internal investigation and placed the involved executives on leaveāsignaling accountability without waiting for all the facts.
2. Counter misinformation, and be legible/clear
We all saw the bold apology with strong language all through the wording and punctuation that was supposed to be from said CEO; and Astronomer took control of that situation really fast. They basically debunked the lies and said "Not today satan!"
3. Take accountability, and reassure stakeholders
Aside from the marketing team working overtime, let's shout out their board for their decisions. They went with their gut, and owned the narrative by using their moral compass and responding swiftly [and correctlyā I'll tell you why after this..]. Both Andy and Kristin Cabot resigned quickly, the board then appointed Co-Founder Pete DeJoy as the CEO, immediately after thatā (I'm sure it was the board that approved this move from their CMO....) they reaffirmed the public that business will continue as usual which helped stabilize trust with clients, investors, and employees. How'd they do this? Well they took a subtle shot at Coldplay's Chris Martin by hiring his ex-wife... [my homegirlā the very famous] Gwyneth Paltrow as their interim-spokesperson.
Why's that important? Well it was a nod to Coldplay for exposing and making fun of the the situation (not that Astronomer was aware or keeping it a secret), Gwyneth Paltrow also is a household name so people received her realigning the public with Astronomer's values and stance as well as answering questions circulating online.. as credible, they also hopped in on the 'fun' by making something very serious and potentially negative to them a hysterical moment [kudos to the marketers on this team, because they not only owned the narrative but they got ahead even while reacting. They also showed that their team is tuned to cultural norms especially on the social side of the house... aka "we heard that!"]
SOO phewā the end... why was this a huge success? Lets look at the numbers:
They were mentioned 143Kx on X, 70% increase of "who is Astronomer" searches on Google, they received 22K earned media mentions, in just 24 hours and the Paltrow video received over half a million and 36M views on YouTube and X!
It's August 16th the last mention of Astronomer online was just last week (before now)... for an entire month, they've remained relevantā why? wellā¦ simply by responding radically to a crisis moment. OWN YOUR NARRATIVE, DONāT LET YOUR NARRATIVE OWN YOU ! š«µš½
When I say that your narrative matters, this is living proof to what I mean!
