The Yonder Boys

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 start off praising  Rivian's attempt to build a lifestyle brand, but can't get away from the problems facing the EV industry as a whole - lower consumer demand than hoped by now. Hertz and Ford among the many hedging their bets on electrification. 

We wrap the show with a rant that questions Biden's $632 million plan to extend the nations charging network - what comes first, the chicken (supply) or the egg (demand). Game on, people. .

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 romantic, bike-loving people he had dreamed.
This episode's news starts with a recap of the biggest headline from COP28 (05:10). We then chat about EV manufacturers putting out misleading (dare we say, 'deceptive') range claims on their big trucks (08:00). And lastly, kudos to Detroit, and their one-mile of wireless charging infrastructure (11:20) 
Our guest, Shirin Oreizy (14:30), founder and CEO of NextStep explains how people make decisions (specifically around social responsibility) and how we might use behavioral science to move the needle in the right direction.
We wrap this episode with a rant on all the benefits of a 15-minute city (41:30) and the conspiracy theories that intrinsically come with it - WTAF?
Get your long over-due dose of Yonder Boys banter while it's hot! 

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 America's own Ho Chi Minh City.  

We wrap the news with New York's unexpected fallout from e-bike-mania: batteries catching fire. 

And it's in Gotham we stay as we welcome entrepreneur Shabazz Stuart, founder and CEO of Oonee, a bike infrastructure service, talking about his plans to give bike commuters a sense of security, convenience, and community. Amen! 

Finally, we go full rant on certain tax incentives showering EV buyers.  Sounds awesome, right? We have thoughts. 

Tune in. Turn on. Drive less.

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, brand, and mission: reliable bikes for a zero-emission future. 
And finally, we springboard right into the challenges ahead for the e-bike explosion with this episode's rant. 
Join us as we break down the noise and scheme for those coveted electric, two wheels. 

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 Iceland's ambassador to the United States — the Yonder Boys hosted the final day of the event and came home with loads to discuss in Episode 15. 

We invite fellow attendee and panel speaker, Britany Hirson, CEO of South Bay energy to get her take on the conference, and tell us what it means to be a "mom and pop" energy supplier. 

And like always, the boys have thoughts on some of the biggest stories in New Mobility — an unlikely union of rival super-powers, Tesla and Ford,  car-free neighborhoods coming to our biggest cities (NYC to the tune of 300 city blocks), and a major commercial airline helping to clear hydrogen/electric plane engines for take-off.

And nothing is in the order described above so if you're thinking of skipping ahead, fuggetaboutit! You've probably got somewhere to go sometime soon - give this a listen along the way. 

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 barriers to entry created by too many fuel choices — gas, electric, hydro, diesel, ethanol, hybrid. If your head is spinning, consider the millions of people who don’t know, don’t care. Per usual, we have a few cents on the topic.
Don’t forget - next week the Yonder Boys will be live, the mics will be hot, and it’s all happening at Charge Energy Branding 

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 Walmart and the Wall Street Journal to scale back the parking lot.
Our guest is Jacob Greig from Liftango, a ridesharing technology for on-demand transit and peer-to-peer rides. Turns out there's a lot of moving parts in the equation.
And then we rant. Or is it a rave? Drool-worthy EVs fresh off the Korean assembly lines. So why can't the Germans, Italians, or Swedes get us just as excited about car design as these two stalwarts of the "economy class?" 
Find out what we think on our latest episode of the Yonder Boys - lucky 13!    

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 preppers. Welcome!

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 going all-EV, new ways EVs can kill you, and more. Press play and let’s kick things off.  

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, founder and Head of Strategy at the InCommon Agency to talk about changing the commuter mindset, away from cars and into E-Bikes.
Finally, we have a little back and forth about what it takes for North America to join the e-bike/bike revolution. Will the weather prevent it? Do our city planners know how to incentivize it? Or do we just have to move to Saigon?

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 hubs (Detroit, Pittsburgh, Berlin...) and why this is about way more than just going all in on EVs. Finally,  Greg muses over a recent trip to Spain (40:50) , which wasn't completely without it's motor-vehicle traffic, as we like to romanticize, but perhaps a far more practical, pedestrian-first vibe. 
Buckle up. We got a lot on our mind. And safety belts save lives. - YB

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 of Sales Planning and Operations at VinFast talks about the opportunities and the challenges for new entrants in the EV space and the globalization of the industry. Finally, our Rant takes us through the politics of the  Biden climate bill (Woo-Hoo!) and the lawmakers stuck in the pockets of the fossil fuel industries —  we're looking at you, Manchin! — and leads to a breakthrough we didn't see coming when we hit record.

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 to a DTC model, Volvo bringing in gaming's big guns and how longer commutes may be what kills back to the office culture.

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 for both his company and the autonomous  industry at large. (37:04). Finally, a debate over whether the greatest mind in mobility will save the world, or destroy it. 

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 with advice to communicators in sustainability. A dude as charming as he is genius.  Also in the news: Google goes gaga for Motown; the first mile of electric road (for wireless EV charging) rolls out in Michigan; and bespoke Bollinger retools both brand and biz model. Geoffrey and Greg rant on about both Super Bowl and EV commercials. One big episode jam-packed with emissions-free pontificating.

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 Oil still be the scapegoat we've always wanted?  

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. 

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. 

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.