MEMORANDUM
TO: High-Level Direct Marketers Who Are Political Conservatives
(If this is not you, please do a friend a favor and pass it on)
FROM: Richard A. Viguerie
(The pioneer of political/ideological direct mail)
DATE: November 2021
SUBJECT: Are You Satisfied With Your Life/Career?
“Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or come with me and
change the world?”
This was Steve Job’s question to John Sculley, Pepsi Co. President, when Jobs was
trying to entice him to come run Apple.
Sculley said the question landed like “a punch to the gut” (Forbes Magazine,
November 2016.)
Have you spent your professional life selling “sugar water?”
Do you feel you are doing what God has called you to do?
Are you making the highest and best use of your talents?
Are you making a difference in the world?
How will your career/life be remembered?
Are you a conservative and concerned—perhaps even frightened—for the
future of America?
Are you earning the money you’re capable of?
If these questions cause you to think about your past, present, and future, I may have
an opportunity that could change your life and perhaps America.
In the summer of 1961, I went to New York City to become Executive Secretary of
Young Americans for Freedom (YAF). Not liking to ask people for money personally, I began a lifelong study of marketing/direct mail/fundraising. I still spend 2+ hours a day studying business/marketing.
Since 1961, I have mailed 4.6 billion postal letters and raised 7.5 billion dollars for
conservative/right-of-center organizations and candidates from 86 million individual donations.
In December 1964, I left YAF and in January the following month, I started the world’s first
direct marketing political/ideological agency.
In the 1960s, the Left had a virtual monopoly on the news and information received by
America.
But all of that changed when my company (then The Viguerie Company and now American
Target Advertising) began to use postal mail to go around the liberal media’s monopoly right
into people’s home with news and information.
Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and most of the 1980s, my company led the direct marketing for
conservatives, and for over 25 years conservatives dominated grassroots marketing. However,
today the Left is far ahead of conservatives.
In the late 1980s, talk radio (read: Rush) arrived, followed by cable TV (Fox News) and then
the Internet.
Without direct mail/direct marketing, there would be no conservative movement worthy of the
name and probably no President Ronald Reagan, no Gingrich congressional revolution in 1994,
no Tea Party Movement 2009-2010, no President Trump, no 50/50 America.
Today of all the money donated to nonprofits from the new and alternative media (postal,
email/digital, TV, and phones) over 90% comes from postal direct mail. That will change but
not for many years.
The workhorse of fundraising (charitable, health and welfare, ideological, political, etc.) is still
postal mail, and it’s going to continue to be true in 2022 and 2024 and far beyond.
Since I started my company in January of 1965, we’ve been on the front lines in the battle
between the Left and the Right. However, because of the weak position today of the
conservative cause and the Republican Party, I and our executive team have decided to
significantly increase the size and effectiveness of our company.
We are moving ATA to the front lines in the Cold Civil War now raging in America between
socialism/Marxism and liberty/freedom.
Our 73 world-class ATA team members mailed 139,000,000 postal letters in 2020 for 17
clients.
In 2021, we are on track to mail over 160,000,000 postal letters and by 2024 (the year of the
next Presidential election) we will mail over 220,000,000 postal letters for 30+ clients who will
be fully engaged in the Cold Civil War.
Our clients include nationally known colleges, Catholic and Evangelical organizations, senior
citizen organizations, public interest law firms, national security organizations, human rights
organizations, veterans’ organizations, political committees, etc. So, regardless of your
interests, we probably have a client that fits your dream job.
However, in order to help lead the conservative movement nationally, take on a dozen new
high-powered clients, and mail 220,000,000+ postal letters, we will need to significantly grow
our leadership team.
We are eagerly seeking top-level candidates for the position of COO, Account Executives,
Copywriters (postal, email, digital), Production Managers, list/modeling experts, Data
Analysts, digital/email marketing specialists, political writers, etc.
At age 87, I work about 12-13 hours a day, 5 ½ days a week, and serve as Chairman of ATA.
Kathleen Patten, who started at ATA in 1985, after graduating from William and Mary and
later earning a master’s degree in Public Administration focused on Nonprofit Management,
serves as our President and CEO.
Mark Fitzgibbons, a nationally regarded attorney and fundraising law expert is President of
Corporate Affairs at ATA since 1993.
In 2007, Dorothy Miller became President and CEO of AMLC—our 11-team member list
company. Since 1965, we’ve had the largest list of conservative/Republican donors
commercially (many millions).
If you’ve sold all the “sugar water” you care to and you feel that perhaps all your marketing
experience, learning, and knowledge has been in preparation for the opportunity to join the war
to preserve the blessings of liberty that America has been blessed with—then let’s talk. Write
me at American Target Advertising (9625 Surveyor Court, Suite 400, Manassas, VA 20110) or
email resume@americantarget.com.
We’re located in Manassas, VA, about 50 minutes West of Washington, DC, and working
remotely may be an option.
P.S. I’ve developed a marketing concept called Viguerie’s Four Horsemen of Marketing®,
and a discussion of it is available in a 40-page booklet. I’d be glad to mail you a free
copy and also send you free copies of several books I have written, America’s Right
Turn and How Conservatives Can Outlive Liberals. These books will give you a more
complete idea about myself and ATA.
P.P.S. I’m sending this memo primarily to a select group of marketing professionals in the
commercial and non-ideological marketing arena. If this opportunity does not interest
you, perhaps you know a conservative who may have been waiting their entire life for
this opportunity—why not do them and America a huge favor and send them a copy of
my letter?
Enclosure: Richard Viguerie Testimonials