Sophisticated junk mail - I suppose this must work

The other day, I received a sophisticated bit of junk mail.

The envelope had my name and address printed in that font which seems at first glance to be handwriting. The envelope had an actual 44-cent stamp. (Using a commemorative stamp would have made the illusion even more compelling.) It appeared to come in the kind of envelope a regular person would buy at a store. There was no return address, but I was curious enough to open it:

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Inside was a fake news article, with a yellow Post-It that had the computer printed fake handwriting customized with my name - nice touch. It was signed "A", as if I knew the sender well enough that an abbreviation was all that is necessary. Interesting - but who in the world goes to the trouble of mailing an actual press clipping anymore?

To add to the verisimilitude, they have a cut off "Advertisement" on top of the article. If they are going to all this trouble, why not write it as a straight news article?

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The fake clipping was printed on real newsprint, complete with the jagged edge of a real newspaper. From a fake newspaper with the plausible name of "Financial News Today." It seemed real enough that at first I thought it was an advertisement printed in a real newspaper that had been cut out. But I can't find any real newspaper with the name Financial News Today.

Is it a coincidence that article is about the fees that management consultants earn and that I'm a management consultant? I'm very curious what database was used to match me to this mailing.

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They even have stock quotes on the back. I didn't check, but I'm willing to give the sender credit and assume that they were accurate quotes.

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The whole effort struck me as much more sophisticated than an average piece of junk mail, but what puzzles me is: who responds to this offer? While clever enough to get me to open the envelope, the fact that the entire product is a fake doesn't exactly build trust that a free report will help me become a "Certified Cost Reduction Specialist" capable of earning a "6-figure salary."