Acquire Less, Use More: An interactive winner from SXSW, and a new idea for Minneapolis

Twin Cities Business story by Katie Harholdt

Zeus Jones is a group of Minneapolis marketers, not indie musicians or filmmakers. But with their website-developer partners at Bloomington-based Sierra Bravo, they took top honors in a Microsoft-sponsored contest at the South by Southwest festival of entertainment, arts and media in Austin, Texas, in March. Now the question is, what’s next for the sustainable-living website they designed?

The site’s name, Usemore, seems to promote consumption rather than sustainability. But what it encourages is greater use of what people already own: a lawnmower that sits idle most days, leftover roofing shingles, vacant office cubicles. The site is only a prototype so far, but Usemore is designed to let people post items they’re willing to share or want to get ahold of; earn and spend points for participating; and view eBay-or Facebook-style trustworthiness ratings of the other users.

“There’s already so much attention being paid to what I’m buying and what I’m throwing away,” says Christian Erickson, a partner at Zeus Jones. Rather than focus their contest entry on how to shop “green” or dispose of things responsibly, the Zeus-Sierra team took the point of view that “maybe we can do (more) things with the stuff I already have,” Erickson says.

They’re trying to put their idea to use back home. Erickson has spoken with the Minneapolis Community Planning and Economic Development office. He says Usemore piqued the city’s interest and CPED will continue to assess it.

The site could be adapted to work with various metro-area services or needs – transit being one obvious example. To old-fashioned rideshare programs, Usemore would bring its Twitter-like user interface and ability to instantly connect drivers and riders: “Anyone driving to the Twins game from Blaine?” 

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