The Yonder Boys

How essential are "Mom and Pops" in the energy and transportation sectors — both for the innovations they deliver and the stories they can tell that the establishment can't? Geoffrey is worried about their potential demise or assimilation. Our guest, Elaine Kwok from Peak Power, might give him reason to hope.  In this episode, the boys discuss how the smaller auto-makers will take o...

We have a new episode, and a decidedly new focus for the Yonder Boys. It occurred to us - Greg and Geoffrey - that it isn't only transportation models that need to change. It's the whole freaking city. And when cities change, the rest of the world tends to follow suit.   So with that, The Yonder Boys have sharpened our focus on messaging needed to create more livable, enjoyable and prosp...

Sure we all love our gear. New watches. New phones. New ways of getting from A to B...well, not so much.  As the Yonder Boys unravel the latest news and rant, we discover that there are lots of technologies ready (or close to ready) to enter the mainstream. Oh, and by the way, they may even make life a little easier. But we are creatures of habit and one habit we just can't shake is our god-g...

Global creative luminary Matt Cramp, one of the minds behind last year's "Edgar Scissorhands" spot for the Cadillac Lyriq   joins the Yonder Boys to deliver an electrifying alternative to featuring a new(ish) form of transportation.  He tells is the extradordiary story that led to this  spot — with their only creative brief being to "win the superbowl." Geoffrey and Greg s...

The Yonder Boys are finally back! So much to talk about but we kept it to a quick-moving 50 mins for your listening pleasure — featuring one of the most fascinating interviews yet on this show. You won't want to miss it. We start off recounting Geoffrey's recent trip to Brussels (02:00) and how he found their urban mobility, both so much more advanced than US cities, and yet, not all the...

If you're Yonder Boys-curious, but haven't pulled the trigger on a 30-minute conversation about your commute,  then check out our two-and-a-half minute super-cut to hear what you're missing. We hope it stokes a little FOMO. Join us for a full episode at https://theyonderboys.buzzsprout.com

It's been a long, languid summer of dog-sitting and conference-hopping, but the Yonder Boys are back on the mic with hot takes on cool news from the new mobility conversation. First up: Iron Man (aka Robert Downey Jr.) turns muscle cars into EV marvels to reach a cabal of cable TV audiences.  Next:  Country music capital Branson, Missouri redefines the Boot Scoot Boogie on its way to becoming...

Mr. Bean talks smack about EV's. Ford's F150 Lightening overpromises and under-delivers on range. Rural America may just have to thank sleepy Joe for all the new jobs. What is this world coming to? We celebrate this crazy mixed up news cycle, along with the joy of CAKE, whose North American Managing Director Eric Asmussen joins us to talk about the Swedish bike builder's products, b...

Coming off an incredible two-day discovery session on the state of brand in the global energy transition, smack dab in Houston, TX, the Yonder Boys discuss this meeting of minds on the communication side of what's keeping the lights on (and the people moving), known as the CHARGE Energy Branding Conference.   After a full day interviewing a broad range of attendees and speakers — including Ic...

Sustainable Super Yachts? - Whack jobs. California mandates for E-trucking  - Wishes? Pre-fab, car-free living (Whack-y and wish-y) Our latest guest, Peter Griffiths with Babel Smart Cities brings us back to earth talking about the importance of urban initiatives and how we might build better cities if we start thinking off the grid. Finally, the Boys discuss (rant about) the complexities and barr...

From jaw-dropping Hyundais   (yes, Hyundais), to conservative stalwarts getting progressive about driving, it seems the mobility world's turned upside down since the Yonder Boys last outing.  In this episode, we discuss how Paris's ban on shared scooters (mon dieu!) might help them in smaller towns; heads of state and big oil bracing for change by embracing new mobility; and the move by...

We're back at it, talking Gen-Z and their rejection of driving, Lordstown going out with a whimper and Rivian bringing us the au naturale bells and whistles. We are joined by Daniel Kim of Lit Motors who's developed the first (and thanks to all his patents, possibly the only) two-wheeled car. We wrap things up with a love letter to some of the less predictable E-Bike users - hunters and...

Superbowl is coming and automakers are going on offense again with EV advertising. The Yonder Boys bring in Chuck Meehan, the Chief Creative Officer behind GM’s “Everybody in” campaign, to talk about the concept and development behind last year’s Dr. EVil campaign and what’s next. Also in this week’s episode: the unlikely alliance between Shell and Volta charging stations, Toyota and Mazda punt on...

In this episode, the Boys break down how getting out of our cars makes cities increasingly more livable. Our news stories include rogue crosswalk painters in L.A. and Seattle, the stunning new Prius (that's right - "stunning" and "prius" in same sentence) and Kansas City's new fare-free zone in downtown for mass transit. We sit down and chat with Leslie Carlson , foun...

We kick off with a round-up of the best, the worst and the ugliest advertising / messaging  tactics out there. Next, we invite new friend, Chris Thomas, onto the show (18:50) to help us reinvent the current mobility system from the inside out - Detroit, Michigan.  As founder and lead of both Detroit Mobility Labs and Assembly Ventures, Thomas explains why he's betting on legacy industrial hub...

Face palms meet head snaps. In one of our more lighthearted episodes, the Yonder Boys tap the dark side of communications for scandal, outrage, and schadenfreude - from Chevy's slap in Atlanta's face, to Los Angeles bike blunders and the distrust that now comes standard with autonomous cars.  And, could the drug cartels be the ones to figure it all out.  Our guest, Chet Parsons, Director...

In this episode, the Boys tackle the question of how to make our cities less car dependent and how the Biden infrastructure plan may (or may not) be achieving those goals. We chat with Julia Thayne Demordaunt and ben Holland from RMI, who are creating the global energy systems to secure a clean, prosperous, and zero-carbon future. And as always, we start with the news, including, Ford's move...

This week's theme is "outliers & interlopers," as the Boys  discuss Polestar 's masterful launch of the No2,  e-bike-mania that's sweeping the nation and how Ford Motor Company is beating Tesla at their own game. (12:39). Then Greg and Geoffrey are joined by guest Eric Lachter , VP Brand Marketing at Innoviz Technologies telling us what he's trying to communicate...

Yonder Boys, Super Bowl Edition: Creative heavyweight Michael Raso, Executive Creative Director at Ogilvy, New York, joins us from a closet in Argentina to discuss his stellar spot for GM EV battery technology, “No Way, Norway,” featuring Will Ferrell — the best of last year’s big game, and maybe the best EV ad ever. Raso offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how the spot got made, along...

Ron Lamberty, SVP at American Coalition for Ethanol joins Greg and Geoffrey to discuss the pros, and even more pros of biofuels, and discuss his prototype for the most efficient car that no one is talking about. The  Boys also dig into the Tesla recall,  the ultra-progressive French mandates on all new car sales and the pop-up Audi charging lounges. For our rant, Greg poses the question, can Big O...

The Yonder Boys are joined by Peter Deppe , founder and CEO of Kuhmute to discuss the benefits of micromobility, the services that support it and what's stopping this first/lat mile solution from taking off.  We also dig into new ads from Chevron, what's at stake if you're behind some of these big oil ads, and the recent Uber-Tesla-Hertz alliance. 

In Episode 1, the Yonder Boys, Geoffrey Abraham and Greg Veerman introduce themselves, the show and just how powerful messaging becomes when shifting away from long-standing mobility behaviors. 

The Yonder Boys and their guest, Matt Teske from Chargeway discuss the need for simplicity in accelerating EV adoption and even question electric as the new standard.