Last Thursday, Harvard students had access to a $5 deal for two small cups of fro-yo at the popular BerryLine joint in Harvard Square. The deal was brought to students by DealQuad in partnership with Harvard’s newspaper, The Harvard Crimson. Although group-buying competitors continue to pop up in a now (overly)crowded space, DealQuad made me do a double take.

DealQuad is a social commerce application with a business model and market strategy focused on college campuses. DealQuad’s model provides ample incentives for all parties to the platform: local merchants who want to reach Harvard students (and not crappy customers like some of the Groupon merchant horror stories of), students who want to deals close to where they live (and who are looking to leverage their collective buying power), and college newspapers who share in the revenue, too (and are happily accepting any sort of supplemental revenue).

Here’s how it works: A merchant posts a fixed quantity deal at 50%-90% off to the DealQuad platform. The deal runs for a full week, or until the fixed number of vouchers are sold out. Students interested in the deal during that week make the purchase. The house or dorm (or student organizations at colleges with a smaller fraction of students living on campus) with the highest percentage of student participation in the deal wins a “donation” – which is a 5% revenue share in the deal’s overall revenue after the “donation tipping point.” A slick leaderboard on the site helps display that real-time information.

Built by Buzzpoint, a social media marketing company out of Los Angeles, DealQuad chose Harvard as an initial campus to roll out on given its strong daily paper, active student body, and quality merchants in the area. When we first learned about DealQuad early last week, just over 300 Harvard students were fans on Facebook. And after speaking with several Harvard students who were all aware of the application, today nearly 850 students are fans and the first BerryLine deal just sold out.

We had the opportunity to speak to DealQuad’s CEO, Jeffrey Appelbaum, about where the idea for DealQuad came from:

“It’s no secret that print publications are seeking new ways to monetize. It seems that college newspapers are in a particularly unique position given their close relationships with local merchants, the distribution and trust they’ve cultivated with their readers over decades, and the interconnectedness of online and offline campus life. DealQuad also presented the opportunity to work with some of the brightest minds in the country and provide both the tools and education for turning an idea into a engaging business.”

As for the exact percentage of revenue the newspaper receives, The Harvard Crimson declined to comment, but Appelbaum noted that the revenue is split on a per transaction basis. According to Appelbaum, merchants are excited about complementing their current relationships with newspapers with a cost-free way of advertising.

Harvard students should look out for the next deal offering to launch soon here. If you are a local business looking to learn more, email business@dealquad.com.