One of things about marketing that you don’t realise until you do it – is that you are working out loud. Many of your actions, decisions and choices are played out in front of an audience. That means that the people who count – your customers, partners and collaborators – and your bosses – all see your work. And they are all ready to judge you.
And while this is run-of-the-mill for most marketers, it’s when crisis hits that it becomes acute. A business or brand crisis sees most marketing and communications teams kick into gear. Agencies leap into action and marketing steps up to be one of the most important strategic arms of an organisation. Those making decisions on marketing and crisis responses have no choice but to step into highly visible leadership – and this takes a certain amount of not only brand bravery, but personal courage.
And so it was with Astronomer when senior execs from the company were caught on a “Kiss Cam” at a Coldplay concert. Take a look at the Google Trends view for the term Astronomer.
As the footage when viral, I was just imagining what was happening behind the scenes:
- Social media mentions start building
- Google organic peaks and the paid search budget is exhausted
- Traffic to the brand’s About and Team pages start spiking
- Web services come under strain
- Cyber attacks ramp up as brand visibility grows
- Marketing, social and PR teams gather to
- Viral contagion spreads across geographies and it all happens again.
Now, whenever your brand comes under fire, the crisis comms playbook kicks in:
- Respond quickly to control the narrative
- Reach a broad audience
- Engage directly with your stakeholders
- Provide updates and monitor the situation.
But these are generally reactive approaches.
Before this event took place, I had no clue about Astronomer and its DataOps platform. However, thanks to this creative, disruptive and self-deprecating response starring “Temporary Spokesperson”, Gwyneth Paltrow – I not only have heard of the brand, I also know of its products and its upcoming conference.
What’s great about this is that the crisis comms playbook has been turned upside down. What we see is a “culture-first” response:
- Paltrow has a global profile as an actor and CEO of her own company. She is also Coldplay lead singer, Chris Martin’s ex – which carries a healthy dose of ironic baggage
- The script leans into the humour while keeping core brand and product message at the centre of the communication
- While most brand step back from emotion through formal messaging and delivery during crisis comms, Paltrow’s wry smile and delivery reframe the narrative away from the very human crisis that started all this, and refocus on the 300-plus employees of Astronomer.
It will be interesting to see how or even whether Astronomer is able to continue to capitalise on this momentum. No doubt CMO, Leo Zheng, will be high on the list for speakers at upcoming marketing conferences (quick Comms Connect!) – and this will make for a fascinating case study.
As I reflect on this situation and the vastly un-human AI-driven comms world we find ourselves in, I wonder how much artificial intelligence played a role in this effort from Astronomer. I have a feeling this is a culture and creative-led response – but I could be wrong. And maybe we will never know.
