The Communicopia logo was created in 1998 by my brother Brian Bendorf, a graphic designer who died too young at the age of 34.
It was this time of year 19 years ago when I started this public relations marketing agency. Coming up with a name for the business was one of the first things on my start-a-business To-Do list and that was before small businesses had websites.
Now I think there’s even more pressure and stress in naming a business, although GoDaddy makes it easy to find out what’s been taken and is already being used by somebody else. URLs and hashtags are now as important as ever and need to be considered in the naming of a business.
So how did I come up with the name Communicopia?
While flying to visit a Washington, D.C. trade association that would become my first client (and is still my client today), I was reading the airline’s magazine–you know, the one in the back of the seat pocket?
I was taking the word “communications” and trying to combine it with different words to come up with a unique company name.
It was November and I was reading an article about Thanksgiving and there it was–the word cornucopia. Combining “communications” with cornucopia formed communicopia and that was it, my company name was born! It was unique and had the right sound and sophistication of what my public relations agency would be.
Making the name even more significant was my agricultural connection of growing up in Iowa and majoring in agricultural journalism. A cornucopia signifies abundance and most images of cornucopias are overflowing with fruits and vegetables.
Once I started sharing the name with friends and associates, they all liked it. And to this day, when I give out my card or say the name of my company to someone new I meet, I often get a “I like that name.”
As Communicopia begins its 20th year in business, its name has served it well and has helped this public relations agency stand out and get noticed.