Transforming stakeholder insight into award nominations
The challenge
Scaling a low-carbon success story into a nationwide narrative
Metis had delivered a proven model for low-carbon retrofit through its partnership with Oxfordshire County Council – avoiding common programme pitfalls by removing cost barriers, simplifying delivery, and building resident trust.
In under a year, the results were significant: 599,104 kWh of renewable energy generated, over 400 tonnes of CO₂e avoided, and 262 completed solar and battery installations.
The challenge, however, wasn’t delivery – it was translation.
To lead the UK’s low-carbon retrofit revolution, Metis needed to turn a single, successful pilot into clear, credible narratives that could stand up in competitive award submissions and resonate with a national audience. That meant moving beyond raw data to demonstrate real-world impact – building visibility and trust among social housing landlords, homeowners, businesses and educational institutions.
The strategy
Elevating stakeholder stories into award-nominated authority
exceptional™ worked with Metis to transform their Oxfordshire trial into a set of authoritative, evidence-led content pieces designed to increase their visibility and form the basis of testimonial-led award submissions.
Capturing stakeholder insight
We conducted in-depth interviews with key stakeholders across the programme – from council delivery leads and strategic partners to participating residents – capturing how the model worked in practice and building a complete, first-hand view of its impact.
Creating core content assets
We translated these interviews into a series of long-form articles, written in the voices of those stakeholders. Together, they turned complex delivery into clear, credible narratives that could be understood, trusted, and reused in high-stakes contexts, such as award submissions.
Turning stakeholder narratives into impact-amplifying awards
We used these stakeholder narratives to write award submissions, lifting direct quotes and structuring each entry around proven outcomes. While many competitor submissions relied on data alone, Metis combined statistical proof with grounded, first-hand stories.
The results
Turning a technical trial into a sector success story
exceptional™ turned stakeholder insight into structured, high-impact award submissions – enabling Metis to present a clear, credible case in competitive categories.
This resulted in three major award nominations:
- Finalist for “Best Use of Energy Flexibility Data” at the Utility Week Flex Awards
- Finalist for “Best Local Energy Project” at the Utility Week Flex Awards
- Finalist for “Renewable Energy Project of the Year” at the UK Green Business Awards
More importantly, this shows how our process turns proven delivery into credible, scalable narratives that position organisations like Metis for wider adoption and sector leadership.
“It’s been a busy period for us, so having a team who could be proactive and keep things moving made a real difference. exceptional™ didn’t just respond to what we needed, they actively engaged stakeholders across the programme and turned those conversations into clear, high-quality content and successful award submissions we were really confident putting forward.”
– Cathryn Dean, Group Marketing Manager at Metis
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