This weekend we watched as swine flu inched its way across a CNN map of the world.

Geographically, we know where this outbreak exists, but how many of us know where this issue is in its lifecycle?

Similar to the situation with the avian flu, companies in the restaurant, food, and pharmaceutical industries will need to monitor this issue for changes in issue lifecycle. We can expect this issue to move from its current reporting phase to a position of advocacy, whereby interest groups will leverage this outbreak as an opportunity to affect change in policies and promote agendas.

As this issue migrates into the advocacy position, companies in the industries listed above will need to garner global media intelligence that will help them: i) identify media outlets and authors in the advocacy role ii) understand and interpret the underlying concerns of these groups iii) develop counter messages and processes that deal with threats to reputation, i.e. drug availability, employee safety, etc. Furthermore, a global monitoring approach will also help communications professionals understand the international nuances of the issue, i.e. differences in global advocacy positions, disparities in the quality and nature of the news coverage from different regions.

In cases like these organizational preparedness will be scrutinized. Companies need to monitor perceptions during the crisis to customize a communications plan that fits with the issue lifecycle, and to be prepared for the next crisis window after the issue lifecycle has completed.

Interest group politics never go away; they simply wait for new windows of opportunity to open, and then present arguments that will affect change and potentially harm reputation and license to operate. We’ll keep watching and follow the changes here.