Biography of Bortnikov Igor

The magazine quickly occupied its own niche in the market of local media. From the variety of regional printed products, zero to this day have survived only a few. What was this summer path that contained a whole era? The founder of the magazine Igor Dmitrievich Bortnikov, looking back, recalls, thinks, analyzes. Igor Dmitrievich, that you, an entrepreneur, prompted you to create a magazine?

I think the genes worked. My grandfather on the line of my father Grigory Bortnikov was the art editor of the large regional newspaper Donetsk Worker. My father Dmitry Bortnikov is an artist, sculptor. His most famous work in the Yaroslavl region is a monument to the Hero of the Patriotic War of the year, Field Marshal Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov in the village of Stoginskoye Gavrilov-Yamsky District and the memorial “Eternal memory to the victims of the blockade of Leningrad-GG.

When they started creating a magazine, I was 33 years old, and I had an elite quarter company, which was engaged in real estate. At that time, the first glossy magazines appeared in Russia. In the air, a request from an actively developing business was not only for the sale of its goods and services, but also for self -presentation. So the idea came to try to create the first colorful glossy magazine in our region.

And immediately it became clear that the “elite quarter” is a story not so much about real estate as about people, the city elite: cultural, financial, political and our values ​​- veterans, children, historical memory, heritage, and affairs of mercy. All that is worthy of attention and what you need to talk about. In the year, the market of Yaroslavl city, regional, as well as representative offices of the federal media was oversaturated ...

There were many newspapers, but there was no gloss. And as for the advertising market, there was where to walk around. A popular newspaper of ads “from hand to hand” was published in the city - the Center for the attraction of advertisers. Through it, both cars, real estate, and a lot of things were sold. After the crisis of the year, economic growth began, and in the year there was a rise in all areas.

Many Yaroslavls engaged in business. Consumer demand has grown: people actively bought goods, real estate, cars. In the city, like mushrooms after the rain, banks and car dealerships grew, real estate was built. All this formed the need for a publication that is not like any of those that came out in the city and the region. And having studied the market of the media available in the Yaroslavl region, we came to the conclusion that the niche of the glossy advertising publication is free.

Quickly managed to win the market? The business environment accepted it almost immediately. It took just a few months to promote, and six months later the magazine gathered his “party”. The fact is that the exit of each number, and the magazine was monthly, was accompanied by a presentation - a social event. Most often, the Restaurant-Gostinical Complex "Uta", which was very fashionable at that time, then led Sergei Gorodetsky and other popular restaurants at that time.

The honorary guests of the events were the heroes of the first numbers of the magazine - the famous people in the city: the governor of the region Anatoly Ivanovich Lisitsyn, the artistic director of the Yaroslavl Academic Regional Orchestra Murad Ataevich Anamamedov, the director of the Yaroslavl circus, Stanislav Gennadievich Trakhtenberg, even the head of the Yaroslavl dioceses of Vladyka Kirill Top and many others.

We invited officials, businessmen and our advertisers to the presentation. And so every month: we made a magazine and simultaneously prepared a presentation. Our events have become a platform for the meeting and communication of representatives of local business and the leadership of the city and the region. Around the magazine there was a club of entrepreneurs, uniting people of the same circle.

Our secular evenings were covered on the pages of the magazine, they were preparing for them. The city was noisy in anticipation: women ordered the evening dresses in Olga Kameneva atelier. There was a queue for her sewing dresses! For ladies it was a secular exit. And, of course, they liked to see themselves in photographs in the magazine: “Secular Chronicle” was a favorite section of many readers.

By what principle were invitations sent? There were once more people who wanted to get to the presentation than could accommodate the hall. At least a man gathered. The business grew up, and many entrepreneurs wanted to tell in color and gloss about it. There was no end to the pages of the journal of the magazine. There were many partners at the presentation.

Constant guests were representatives of banks and car dealerships. The entrepreneurs of the nearest cities - Ivanovo, Kostroma, Vologda were interested in getting to know our entrepreneurs, and this was mutually. Even from Moscow, people came. In Moscow, they really read us! Perhaps because the magazine was distributed for free in the salons of the business class of trains, the Yaroslavl hotels, which were also our active advertisers, and we wrote a lot about tourism: Yaroslavl was already perceived as the capital of the tourist route “Golden Ring of Russia”.

Maybe the magazine just answered the requests of a particular audience? Of course, he united business people. But at first, not everyone understood the appearance of such an edition on the market.And the then governor of the Yaroslavl region Anatoly Ivanovich Lisitsyn liked the idea, and he supported us, for which I am grateful to him to this day. We were not limited to presentations.

We arranged many events, not to remember everything. If we talk about the most significant, this is the organization of the “Man of the Year” award, the photo exhibition-competition “Alter Ego”- the works of our readers, the beauty contest “Miss“ Elite Quarter ””. We have laid the tradition of annual tournaments in large tennis and billiards, which are preserved and popular until today.

We started billiard tournaments in Pivovar, dedicating them to the birthday of Vladimir Semenovich Vysotsky - January 25. Why Vysotsky, if it is known that he himself did not know how to play billiards? Because there is a well -known scene in the film “The meeting place cannot be changed”, where his hero Gleb Zheglov plays billiards. The first billiard tournament was opened by the famous artist Leonid Kuravlev.

Organized business forums, concerts of popular groups. The Moral Code, Blue Bird, Chizh and Company came to us. We were sponsors and partners of sports events - ski racing in Demino, supported rhythmic gymnastics and volleyball. We had Sergey Shlyapnikov, the head of the Yaroslavich volleyball club. Everything that happened in the city, we lit on the pages of the magazine.

In the city exhibition hall named after the Nuzhin, photo exhibitions were arranged, to which everyone could send their work. There was a “girl of the month” section, to which Yaroslavne sent their photos, and the winner was chosen by voting. Every season we were connected with a bright event. Winter is a billiard tournament and a beauty contest, in the summer - a tennis tournament.

There was no time at all, life in the magazine and around him simply seethed. We were happy everywhere. Restaurants lined up in line so that we would take an event from them. The journal’s income was good, there was a lot of advertising. We and our guests of our then with good nostalgia recall that first decade. What level did the officials of the region and the city attend your events?

Anatoly Ivanovich Lisitsyn often came. First Deputy Governor Irina Ilyinichna Skorokodova came to us as far as possible. Lyudmila Ivanovna Sopotova, deputy mayor of the city of Yaroslavl, attended most of our events and opened them. Was there real assistance to business from the Elite Quarter. Firstly, entrepreneurs met and began to communicate among themselves. We made it possible for people to come out of the stage, to tell about ourselves.

Due to their recognition, their business grew. Secondly, during our events, businessmen could directly make an appointment with high representatives of the authorities with their own question. Thirdly, one of the forums was dedicated to the organization of the Yaroslavl guild of realtors, to which we invited the leadership of Sberbank PAO from Moscow and discussed with them a new phenomenon-a mortgage.

Fourth, famous people came to us, with whom it was possible not only to take pictures, but also to chat in an informal setting.

For example, when a stylist Sergei Zverev was on a visit in the city, we arranged a meeting with him for representatives of our beauty salons and atelier. He held a master class. They were very interested. There was very good communication in our community. I remember the then dealer Volkswagen, the Ivanovo Motorsonovo Ivanovo, right during our presentation, sold 2 cars of the new Volkswagen Touareg model.

Do you remember the moment when the magazine grew up in the volume of pages? If the first number was 40 pages, then a year later there were no less pages in it. The thickest number was on the flight of the "elite quarter." But the pages were the norm. Our mission was to help people to submit themselves and provide them with the opportunity to relax in their circle, and our events became a suitable site for this.

The magazine helped the Yaroslavl business find its environment for communication, where everyone knows each other.