In this interview with Snorri Bjarnvin Jónsson from Captain, we talk about the company’s brand philosophy, what is the meaning behind the name, and what are some future plans for the company.

What is the story behind the Captain brand?  

The story behind the Captain brand comes from a short film me and my school friends did when we were in flight school together in Iceland in the year 2000. The name of the short film is “Kapteinninn” which translates to “the Captain”. The film can be seen here.

When did you start thinking about your brand name and how did you settle on Captain?

We premiered the film for our flight school class and it was a big success and we sold VHS copies to pilots. Now in the year 2020, I wanted to celebrate 20 years since we made it and I finally uploaded the film to youtube. In the final scene in the film the captain makes a victory jump out of nowhere and the film ends on that freeze-frame. I put a piece of paper over the computer screen and drew the lines of that jump. I thought this came out great so I put it on a T-shirt. I showed my friends the T-shirt and they wanted to make more. Now, me and my friend Arni Arnason, who was the co-director in the short film, are the owners of Captain brand T-shirts.

Who is your target customer and how is your brand name helping in reaching them?

Our target customers are pilots and airplane enthusiasts. We are in cooperation with Henson inc. who imports and prints on the T-shirts. We emphasize quality thick combed cotton T-shirts.

How did you get the domain name Captain.is for your brand? Why did you select that one exactly?

We selected www.captain.is as our page as the name is short and catchy.

Has the pandemic affected your company in any way? What has changed since?

We, the owners, are airline captains with Icelandair and we fly as captains on B757 airplanes. This pandemic has not been helping us with our startup company as 80% of pilots are being made redundant. With us included. The logo of a victorious captain is almost an ironic image now. But there will be better times.

What do you do to make sure your marketing is effective?

We use social media to advertise our Captain brand. We use Instagram and Facebook and have sold through there. Our buyers wear the T-shirts and post pictures of themselves in insta story and the brand advertises itself with us posting photos of happy customers in the shirts. Arni my co-owner is a renowned male model and we have used his modeling skills to promote the brand with great success and popularity.

What would your advice be to entrepreneurs who are just starting out, in general, and when it comes to branding and naming?

Our advice to people who want to start up a company and sell their own products is to count on themselves. You have to be willing to work and follow your product. Tie all loose ends yourself and make things happen. Offer only good quality products and you have to sell it yourself. At least to begin with. You can’t afford employees to do things you can do or learn yourself.

Where do you see your business in the future and how does your brand name fit into that vision?

Our big goal for the future is to make Captain brand like Titleist brand is for the golf sport. Everybody in golf knows and wears Titleist and we want every pilot to know and wear Captain brand clothes.

We hope the above information will help you in making informed decisions about your brand. What can we do to empower your brand? Get in touch, we are always happy to chat.

Find out more about Captain.is