The Work That Made Me: Dallas Baker
Dallas Baker's career spans more than 25 years as a copywriter and creative director across countless industries and clients. He serves as ECD at H/L and has done some outstanding regional work for Toyota in Central and Northern California—one of the automaker’s largest markets in the U.S. He has established a winning formula of aligning Northern California icons with Toyota’s brand to boost brand affinity. He has worked with Northern California icons such as Olympic Gold medalist Jonny Moseley, Olympic Gold Medalist Summer Sanders, and SF Giants Buster Posey.
The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…
Dallas> Not really a “music video” in the truest sense, but rather a feature-length film adaptation of Cat Stevens’ Tea for Tillerman LP: the movie, Harold and Maude. I saw it for the first time in the early '80s, in all its analogue glory, on a VHS tape. The film is a cult classic, of course, that uncovers new layers in every new screening, but what really grabbed me was the soundtrack (basically a needle drop, full play of Tea for Tillerman). This wasn’t even my kind of music! I was in middle school at the time and had never heard of Cat Stevens. Even so, I recognised how much this music set the tone for the film (and vice-versa) and how the two were creatively inseparable. The storytelling was so much more powerful with music and image working in such perfect sync.
At the time, I decided I wanted to score movies as a career. And I got pretty close with advertising!
The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…
Dallas> The campaign that really got me here was a relatively insignificant one (in the age of “1984” and “Where’s the beef?”) for the Datsun 280ZX Turbo. This campaign introduced the word “awesome” into the ‘80s lexicon—a cultural impact that has outlasted even the Datsun brand.
What’s more, it took the taboo direction of putting the car among more respected, more aspirational (and expensive) competitors, without any car in the spot even moving!
At a stoplight showdown with three sportscars, waiting to race, the 280ZX driver (“you”) is portrayed as the most adult and confident one of this group, driving the car that the Corvette and Porsche drivers are lusting after. The announcer reads something about the 0-50 mph time and the top “track speed” of over 100 mph and acknowledges, “when the light turns green, you won’t flaunt your turbo power. But knowing you could… is… AWESOME.”
In the age of government overreach into the automotive industry, I recognised this was all a crafty way to write around showing burnouts, speeds in excess of 55mph and all the other stuff that would have tugged at my pre-teen heart. Instead, they made me crave that car intellectually.
I became not only a “car guy” at that moment, but a car “ad guy.” It… was… AWESOME.
The creative work (film/album/game/ad/album/book/poem etc) that I keep revisiting…
Dallas> I have a go-to remedy for writer’s block. It’s my vinyl copy of Bob Dylan’s “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.” It’s not only for the (unfortunately) timeless messages in the lyrics of the songs, either. “Freewheelin’,” to me, represents the triumph of The Writer. It’s a reminder that, even in the business of creativity, creativity is king.
The story goes that Bob’s first record, a collection of Folk-standard cover songs assembled by the label to “sell records” was such a commercial failure, that they threatened to terminate his contract immediately.
Undeterred, Bob grabbed just a guitar, a harmonica, and a list of original songs this time, which he recorded in mostly one take, and with very little production magic to help him. The result was “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.”
Bob had walked into that studio, on the brink of failure, and walked out as, what Rolling Stone called, “The Voice of a Generation.”
I play this record and think about this story a lot. It’s inspirational stuff.
My first professional project…
Dallas> Maybe not the very first, but within a few months of landing my first real job—a pro-bono invitation to an awards gala for The Park People, a greenspace advocacy group in Houston, Texas. The owner of my agency sat on their board and donated our time. It was meant to be mostly a design job, delivering the “who, what, when, and where” of the gala. As the writer, I was assigned mostly as an afterthought.
I proposed we call the event, “A Green Tie Affair” and suggested we make ties out of real leaves and flowers to photograph for the invitation card. I wrote a flowery sample “botanical” description of one of the ties I had imagined, too, complete with a tongue-in-cheek genus/species name of the tie. That extra bit inspired my partner to contact the great botanical illustrator, Jack Unruh, to illustrate our invitation, which he did as a donation.
At the event, many attendees wore ties they had hired florists to create, to match those in our invitation. The result was so loved by the Park People that their event was called “A Green Tie Affair” from that point forward.
The piece of work (ad/music video/ platform…) that still makes me jealous…
Dallas> W+K’s “If You Let Me Play Sports” for Nike. My jaw still drops every time I watch this – the perfect embodiment of their mission to transcend mere footwear or even participation in sports, and instead make the brand about an aspirational statement of self-actualization—a north star for the human experience.
Genius writing. Powerful insight. Perfect juxtaposition of setting and message in the execution… When the little girl matter-of-factly pauses to look down the lens of the camera and feel the impact of the line, “I’ll be more likely to leave a man who beats me,” I have to catch my breath every time. This is for a shoe ad that never even shows the product!
Are you kidding?
The creative project that changed my career…
Dallas> It was my first big production job at H/L during my first few weeks at the agency. We were launching the expanded line of Toyota Prius Hybrids and hoping to capitalise on the momentum the cars had in Northern California. The “new-guy” naivety in a few of my ideas got me into the room.
It was a package of big branding spots, rather than the agency’s usual retail-oriented assignment—just the kind of opportunity I had risked my financial stability, my home, and even my marriage to come to California to find.
The spots we made remain among my favourite to this day… Significant (and timely) validation for the life-changing leap of faith I had taken, only weeks before.
The work that I’m proudest of…
Dallas> Our Toyota work with San Francisco Giants’ great, Buster Posey is the work I’m most proud of. H/L signed Buster when he was relatively unknown, and still uncertain to return to Major League Baseball due to a massive injury. We built upon his natural likeability and charm, and placed him in the dealership for the first couple of years, in uniform, so that even casual fans would know who he is (and hopefully grow to like him):
As Buster grew into MLB stardom, his role as a representative of Northern California Toyota Dealers also grew. He no longer needed the uniform to be recognised. Since we had never positioned him as a pitch man, we were free to portray him as simply, “Buster.” We included some celebrity and Hall of Fame associates (including Willie Mays) in the ensemble cast, too. And the fans loved it. We allowed Buster’s positive energy to reflect on Toyota, and vice versa. I worked as writer, showrunner, or creative director, alongside nearly every Creative teammate in the agency across the whole series of more than 30 spots, over Buster’s 10+ year span with us. The entire team and I took great pride in the franchise we created and how it was so eagerly anticipated by Giants’ fans every Spring.
The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…
Dallas> Picking up where Buster Posey left off when he retired, I’m excited for Toyota’s future with Brock Purdy, the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers. In many ways, Brock’s story mirrors Buster’s, including his natural embodiment of Toyota’s brand values and relevance to Northern California.
Genuine and unassuming, Brock rose to stardom from being “Mr. Irrelevant” (the name given to the last player taken in the NFL draft). He famously still lives with a roommate and still drives a Toyota (albeit the one provided as part of his contract with Toyota). He calmly, respectfully called us all “sir” and “m’am” on a high-pressure shoot that had to happen within an impossibly tight window. He embodies the Toyota ethos, Kaizen (there is no best, only better) – freely admitting that he has a long way to go to fill the shoes of the Hall of Famers who came before him. And he’ll be a multimillionaire before he’s 25.
I’m particularly proud of this first one of many to come, as we produced this entirely in-house with H/L’s Wolfhouse Productions.
