Methods and apparatus to create modeling groups for use in trade promotion response models

A modeling group generator for use in a trade promotion response model, comprising:

• a unit definer to generate products groups, each of which includes one or more product codes corresponding to substantially similar products;
• a feature identifier generator to generate advertisement identifiers, each of which corresponds to an advertisement and one or more product codes associated with one or more products in the advertisement;
• a unit selector to select a first product group from the product groups;
• a feature selector to select one of the advertisement identifiers corresponding to one or more product codes that are also in the first product group;
• and
• a unit grouper to generate a modeling group for a trade promotion response model by grouping together ones of the product groups that include the product codes corresponding to the selected one of the advertisement identifiers.

A trade promotion response modeling system, comprising:

• a promotion detection system to collect information related to a plurality of advertisements;
• a product characteristic source including product characteristics associated with a plurality of products of a marketplace;
• a sales trend data source including financial information related to the plurality of products;
• and
• a modeling group generator comprising
• a plurality of product groups, each of which includes one or more product codes corresponding to substantially similar products;
• and
• a plurality of advertisement identifiers, each of which corresponds to an advertisement and one or more product codes associated with one or more products in the advertisement, wherein the modeling group generator is configured to select a first one of the advertisements based on a first code of a first one of the product groups, and wherein the modeling group generator is configured to generate a modeling group for a trade promotion response model by grouping together ones of the product groups that include the product codes corresponding to the selected one of the advertisement identifiers.