I’m not going to make communications predictions this year, because my crystal ball is cloudy, and 2015 in any case so far seems like more of the same as last year.   But thanks to a collision of two trends, there is one area where the future is clear already: corporate storytelling.

It’s going to have to get much, much better.

First of all, we’re in the well-known, oft-discussed era of information overload. That means that just getting a hearing in the minds of harried, over-stimulated consumers is increasingly difficult. Your new product, your new service, your new marketplace approach – all of it has to compete with a thousand other such stories and a thousand other sources of information, entertainment, and distraction.

And that means that your story will have to be more compelling than the alternatives. That’s not easy, especially given the inherent limits on storytelling in service to a commercial idea.  It’s not pure storytelling, it doesn’t want to risk controversy, it has a bias toward the happy ending, and so on.

Second, a whole industry is developing around software that is learning to recognize human emotion – more precisely and accurately than humans can. That means your corporate story is going to have to stand up to competing stories that will be tested against the split-second emotional reactions of potential customers. Soon, in other words, software will understand the emotional reactions and decisions of your customers better than any human can.

One of the by products of this research is that we’re learning how much of decision-making is unconscious, and indeed beyond the reach of the conscious mind until the decision is already made. So your traditional means of testing – the focus groups, the in-depth interviews, the surveys, and so on – by their very nature miss out on the interesting parts of consumer choice. If you’re not tapping into this new kind of data, you’re not only behind the curve, you’re out of the loop, the one that matters, the consumer decision-making loop.

Can your story stand up to that kind of pressure? Does your story meet these new kinds of tests?

And of course you now have tell your story in more and more compressed ways. Impossible to tell a great story in a few seconds, you say? Apparently, Ernest Hemmingway (to win a luncheon bet, the tale goes) told perhaps the shortest story ever, and inadvertently started a flash-fiction game that has gone on to this day: six word stories. His example: For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Short stories can have punch. As we get ready for the Super Bowl in the US in a couple of weeks, companies will start leaking their ads and my fearless prediction is that some will convey a strong story in 15 or 30 seconds and others will go for boring, safe, and forgettable.

And those results will have a direct impact on the bottom line.

I was working with a clever start up last week on developing a strong story for their ingenious better mousetrap (I can’t say what it is yet). I pushed them to make the story stronger, to go deeper, to reach a level of human emotion that will motivate their potential customers to act. To do that, you have to be willing to go beyond the usual corporate drivel about better features and snazzier graphics and tell a real story about real people struggling with real issues.

To their credit, this company was willing, and I fearlessly predict success for them. I’m going to be one of the first customers in line. Because they’ve got a good product – and they’re willing to tell a powerful story about it.

If you’re not willing to do that, you’re not going to be in the game in 2015.

And I think there’s more. I think companies will have to increasingly put some real programs behind their slogans and designs. Authenticity is the essence of the appeal to consumers today. So you can be a Tom’s Shoes, and give away a pair for every pair you sell, or you can set up a program to push fitness amongst children, for example, if you’re selling snazzy sports shoes in the West.

It’s your choice, but I think you have to be consistent, authentic, and compelling. So your CSR can’t just be the United Way and the Red Cross. It has to stand for something that your company actually works in. And that should be only the beginning. What are you doing that is unique to benefit the communities you work, sell, and market in? And how are you weaving a story through all of your efforts that is so compelling that your customers will do the work of spreading the word for you?

Go for it or go home in 2015.