Creating, launching and growing a new technology sub-brand — naming, domain architecture, website and search foundations, from one accountable partner.
You do not have to pick one yet. Start with a £2,500 first stage, deducted in full from whichever route you go on to choose.
01
The launch opportunity
What this is really about
The sub-brand isn’t the question. The depth is.
Cera is commercialising its technology as a new B2B proposition for the wider care sector. It goes to market as a technology sub-brand — distinct from the care business, but connected to it — supported by the right naming, domain architecture, website and search foundations.
Cera has settled that direction. What remains open is how much of creating and launching it you’d like Searchflex to own.
Each of the three routes below creates and launches the sub-brand properly. They differ in depth — from building around a brand you supply, to creating the essential identity, to delivering the full brand system. Post-launch growth is a separate decision, with no obligation attached to the build.
The window
Budget approval needed in September, ahead of the launch window.
The constraint
A cost freeze means the investment has to be justified line by line — which is why these routes are priced separately, not bundled.
Where we come in
One partner across brand, design, build and search, rather than coordinating several vendors.
02
Discovery · 21 August 2026
What we heard
Six things you told us on 21 August, and what each one changed about how we’ve scoped this.
01
A new sub-brand, not the Cera brand
The technology proposition needs its own identity — partly because you’ll be selling to providers who also see Cera as a competitor, which raises real data-trust and positioning considerations.
Naming and positioning are a workstream in every route, not an afterthought.
02
Don’t start from scratch on domain
A preference to refresh Cera HQ and add the new proposition on a subdomain, rather than stand up an entirely separate site. Cera Care is left untouched.
We agree, and Section four sets out why — including what protects the Cera Care rankings.
03
Design capability has been lost
Following your designer’s departure, you’d rather one partner handled brand, design, build and search than coordinate several vendors.
All three routes are single-partner. The difference is how much design we create versus apply.
04
The budget must be justified
A cost freeze means you need clear, tiered options to secure a dedicated budget at board level in September.
Three routes, priced separately, each with its own case — so the investment can be justified line by line.
05
A professional shop front
Not e-commerce and no complex logins — a high-quality site to showcase the technology, host video demos and build credibility, replacing the current Wix site with a scalable digital platform.
Scoped as a credibility and demo site with a CMS, not a platform build.
06
Success at 12 months
A site that drives sales conversions and gives your team a CMS they can actually use.
Conversion journeys and CMS usability are acceptance criteria, and tracking ships with the build.
03
How we’d approach the naming
The decision behind the name
Naming runs in weeks two to four, against the demand data, so there are no names here and no palettes — those follow the research rather than precede it. What we can set out now is the decision itself: one axis, three places to land on it, and what each one costs.
Moving left
More borrowed credibility. Cera’s scale, funding and clinical record arrive with the name, and there is less to teach the market.
Moving right
More freedom to sell. Less of the competitor problem you raised on 21 August, and a cleaner trademark position — but recognition has to be paid for.
Territory 01 · Endorsed
Named for the parent
The new business carries Cera in its name and is understood as Cera’s technology arm.
What it buys
Instant credibility with providers and investors. No brand to teach, and the cheapest of the three to launch and to rank.
What it costs
It walks into every provider meeting as Cera. The data-trust objection you raised on 21 August arrives with the name, before anyone opens the deck.
Territory 02 · Coined
Its own word, in Cera’s world
A new, ownable word that still reads as belonging to the category. The endorsement is stated rather than built into the name.
What it buys
A trademark and a domain you can actually own, and room to sell to providers who compete with Cera Care without hiding where it came from.
What it costs
The endorsement has to be repeated — on the site, in the deck, in the footer of every email. That is a permanent line of copy and a permanent negotiation.
Territory 03 · Abstract
A name that owes nothing
No parent in the name and no category in the name. It means what you spend to make it mean.
What it buys
Total separation. The cleanest trademark position and the widest room to sell, including to organisations that would never buy from Cera.
What it costs
It starts at zero: no recognition, no search demand for the name, nothing borrowed. The spend to teach it is real and it is not in this quote.
If we had to guess today we would take Territory 02 into discovery first, because it is the only one that answers the data-trust problem without throwing away Cera’s credibility. But that is a hypothesis, not a recommendation — the demand data in weeks one and two decides it, and if the category terminology says otherwise we will say so.
04
Choose your depth
Three ways we can support the launch
Every route creates and launches the new sub-brand. The only decision is how much of that you want Searchflex to own — a depth-of-engagement choice, not three different businesses.
Compare the routes
Brand & positioning
Brand approachFoundationFoundation: You supply the brandLaunchLaunch: We create the core identityCompleteComplete: We create the full system
Naming consultationFoundationFoundation: LightLaunchLaunch: FullCompleteComplete: Full + positioning
Positioning, messaging & strategyFoundationFoundation: —LaunchLaunch: LightCompleteComplete: Full
Customer & market researchFoundationFoundation: —LaunchLaunch: LightCompleteComplete: Full
Logo, colour & typographyFoundationFoundation: Cera suppliesLaunchLaunch: CreatedCompleteComplete: Created
Visual language, icons & guidelinesFoundationFoundation: —LaunchLaunch: —CompleteComplete: included
Marketing templatesFoundationFoundation: —LaunchLaunch: —CompleteComplete: included
Search, build & launch
Domain & search strategyFoundationFoundation: includedLaunchLaunch: includedCompleteComplete: included
Search & competitor intelligenceFoundationFoundation: CoreLaunchLaunch: FullCompleteComplete: Full
Each route is conditional on a minimum six-month Search Growth Partnership after go-live; in return, Searchflex contributes to the upfront cost, as shown. Growth Partnership fees are additional and begin from go-live — see From launch to growth. Prices exclude VAT and are confirmed against final scope.
Route 01
Foundation
Build · you bring the brand, we build around it
The focused route. A new sub-brand is still a given — in this route you supply the brand direction and visual assets, created internally or with another partner, and Searchflex builds an excellent digital experience around them. It does not include creating a new visual identity or brand guidelines.
Brand approach — we apply the direction and assets you supply, consistently across the new site. No new identity or guidelines are created in this route.
Domain & search strategy — the evidence-led domain and naming direction in Section four, plus a clean migration off the current Cera HQ site.
Website — sitemap and information architecture, focused conversion-led design, build on a modern CMS, video/demo capability, and demo/contact conversion with GA4 and GTM.
SEO — on-page optimisation across the launch site, plus technical and launch foundations: speed, mobile, crawlability, indexation and Search Console.
Choose Foundation if the brand is genuinely covered elsewhere. It is the fastest route to a credible, fast, search-ready site, and it spends nothing on identity work you are already paying someone else to do.
OutcomeA credible, fast, search-ready website built around your brand, live within budget.
Investment£8,000
Route 02 · Recommended
Launch
Brand + build · we create the essential identity
Searchflex creates the essential sub-brand identity and takes the strategy deeper — the identity and positioning needed to launch professionally, on one accountable partner across brand, search, design and build.
Everything in Foundation, plus:
Core sub-brand identity — creation of the essential visual identity: logo / wordmark, colour palette and typography, giving the business a distinct, consistent identity across the website and launch materials.
Market, naming & search intelligence — ICP definition, search demand analysis, competitor and SERP landscape, category terminology, naming for the company and platform, and core positioning and messaging — including the data-trust question.
Search-led website — a keyword universe, page strategy, URL structure and conversion journeys informing bespoke UX/UI, a full responsive build, CMS, product and video demos, and lead capture with CRM integration.
Launch SEO — core commercial pages with initial content, metadata and schema, technical QA and indexation, AI and answer-engine visibility foundations, and a measurement framework with a 6–12 month organic roadmap.
Why we recommend this one: it resolves naming, domain and search demand before those decisions get baked into design and development — which is where launches usually go wrong. It buys the identity you need to sell credibly without the cost and timeline of a full brand system.
OutcomeA properly positioned B2B sub-brand with a distinct identity and a website engineered around discovery, credibility and sales.
Investment£17,500
Route 03
Complete
Brand system + build · we create the full brand
The full route. Searchflex creates the complete brand system and the deeper research and strategy behind it, then builds a platform designed to scale — the strongest answer to your lost internal design capability, delivered by a single partner.
Everything in Launch, plus:
Full brand identity & guidelines — a complete identity system: logo / wordmark, colour, typography, visual language, imagery direction and iconography, with comprehensive brand guidelines, plus core marketing templates — deck, social, one-pagers.
Brand & positioning strategy — customer and market research, competitive intelligence, and full positioning and messaging architecture.
Scalable platform — a website architected to grow into the full platform, AI agents, future products, resources, case studies and industry / use-case hubs. Built once to scale, not rebuilt in 18 months.
Full launch SEO — everything in Launch, plus fuller commercial content and deeper AI-search visibility.
Choose Complete if the lost design capability is a standing gap rather than a one-off. It is the only route that leaves Cera with guidelines and templates the team can use without coming back to us — and the only one that assumes the platform grows.
OutcomeA complete brand and digital platform for the new technology business, built to scale.
Investment£28,000
05
Common to all three routes
Domain & naming
Common to all three routes — the same strategic workstream whichever you choose. Brand independence and domain independence are different things: you can have a new sub-brand with its own identity living neatly on a subdomain.
Subdomain on Cera HQ
[name].cerahq.com
Refresh Cera HQ off Wix and add the new proposition on a subdomain. Avoids starting from scratch, keeps everything under one roof, and gives the product a clean, modern home. Your stated preference, and we agree with it.
Recommended
Separate domain
[name].com
Maximum separation from Cera, which helps most with the data-trust question. But it starts the domain from zero and splits attention and budget across two properties during launch.
Possible
On the care site
ceracare.co.uk
Cera Care is the care and recruitment site. It carries real search equity and will not be touched — leaving it alone is precisely how those rankings stay protected.
Not advised
Cera HQ (cerahq.com) is the B2B and investor site this project replaces. Because neither the company nor the platform is named yet, the exact address depends on naming — naming leads domain, in that order. The one thing to weigh is trust: selling to providers who also see Cera as a competitor means the naming and positioning work has to make the product feel like its own proposition, even while it sits under the Cera HQ umbrella. That is exactly what the brand and naming workstreams are for.
What we’d confirm in discovery
A technical crawl of Cera HQ
A clean rebuild off Wix, with the subdomain set up correctly and redirects mapped.
The real demand landscape
The keyword and demand picture for the product’s category, before naming is fixed.
Naming, then availability
Naming for the company and platform, then trademark and domain availability on the chosen names.
Your international ambition
Which settles .com versus .co.uk, and the wider approach.
06
Our recommendation
Launch — and a way to begin it this month
Of the three routes we would recommend Launch. It creates the identity the new business actually needs without the cost or the timeline of a full brand system. And because naming cannot wait for a September board, there is a first stage you can start now that comes off the price.
Recommended
Route 02 · Launch
The essential sub-brand identity plus a search-led build, on one accountable partner. It is the route that matches what you told us: a real business to take to market, a November window, and no design resource inside Cera to lean on.
Cera launch investment£17,500£20,000 project value, less a £2,500 Searchflex contribution.
Foundation asks for a brand you don’t have
Foundation assumes the identity arrives from somewhere else. Following your designer’s departure it would have to be solved separately, by another vendor, against the same November deadline — which is the coordination problem you said you wanted to avoid.
Complete buys depth November won’t use
The full brand system — extended guidelines, wider applications, deeper content — is real value, but not value the first six months will draw on. It is better bought once the proposition is in market and you know what it needs.
Launch is the line between the two
Enough identity to go to market professionally and hold a premium position, enough search work to be found by the providers you are selling to, and nothing in it that exists only to look complete on a proposal.
A first stage you can start this month.
Two to three weeks of research and naming, run on its own, at a number that should not need a board paper. It is the front of Launch, brought forward — so the naming clock starts in September rather than October, and the board sees how we work before it approves the rest.
If the board lands somewhere other than Launch, none of it is wasted: the same research and naming sits at the front of Foundation and Complete too.
First stage
£2,500
Deducted in full from the build price of whichever route you go on to choose — Foundation, Launch or Complete. If you decide not to continue, you keep everything produced and there is nothing further to pay.
What is there now, what carries value, and the clean route off Wix onto the new structure.
02
Search demand and category language
What providers actually search for, and the terminology the category uses when it is buying.
03
Competitor and SERP landscape
Who already owns that language, where the gaps are, and what that means for positioning.
04
Naming shortlist, screened
Candidate names for the company and platform, built against the demand data, with trademark and domain knockout checks run on the shortlist.
Why this stage first
Naming leads domain, and domain leads the build. Until there is a name, every other decision is waiting on it — so this is the work that has to happen first whichever route you pick, and the only one where starting early actually buys you anything.
Why September, specifically
The delivery plan runs eight to ten weeks for Launch. Starting naming in mid-September puts go-live in late November. Starting it in October puts it in December — not because the work is slower, but because a name cannot be hurried through a board.
Two decisions, and they do not have to be made in the same meeting: the first stage is a £2,500 one, Launch is a £17,500 one. Taking the first in September makes the second better informed — and, because the fee comes off the build, no more expensive.
07
Concept to launch
How November works
Whichever route you choose, the path to launch is the same. Each stage produces an agreed output before the next begins, so decisions are made in the right order and nothing is reworked late.
Week123456789101112
01 Discover
02 Define
03 Design
04 Build
05 Launch
06 Grow
Rings mark the three points where the next stage waits on a Cera approval. Indicatively 8–10 weeks for Foundation and Launch, 10–12 for Complete, then the six-month growth partnership.
Weeks 1–2
01 · Discover
Stakeholder workshop, ICP and competitor landscape, search-demand analysis, Cera and domain audit, and naming exploration.
Output Agreed strategic direction, naming shortlist and digital brief.
Gate · Cera approves the direction and shortlist
Weeks 2–3
02 · Define
Name and domain confirmed, positioning and messaging, keyword universe, sitemap and information architecture, conversion journeys and measurement plan.
Output Approved brand, search and site architecture.
Gate · Cera confirms the name
Weeks 3–5
03 · Design
Brand identity to the chosen route, wireframes, UX/UI, key page designs and content requirements.
Output Approved identity and website designs.
Gate · Cera signs off identity and designs
Weeks 5–8
04 · Build
CMS development, responsive implementation, demo and video functionality, CRM and forms, analytics, technical SEO, content population and QA.
Output A launch-ready website.
Weeks 8–9
05 · Launch
Migration and redirects, technical QA, tracking validation, indexation, Search Console, and paid and organic launch setup.
Output The new proposition live.
Months 1–6+
06 · Grow
SEO and/or Google Ads, demand capture, landing-page optimisation, CRO, content and reporting, with close launch consultancy.
Output A growth roadmap built on what actually generates demand.
What we’ll need from Cera to hold the timeline. One accountable project lead; access to the relevant stakeholders and to Cera HQ, analytics and search platforms; existing brand, product and demo assets; consolidated feedback at agreed milestones; and timely brand, name and design approvals. Naming is the one workstream that cannot be compressed, so each week it sits awaiting a decision is a week on the end.
08
Included in every route · billed monthly
From launch to growth
Launching the website is not the end of the engagement — it is the point at which we start getting real market data. Every route therefore continues into a six-month Search Growth Partnership, and because you are bringing a new proposition to market the first 90 days are unusually hands-on. We review performance with Cera at 90 days and set the direction for the rest of the term.
Search Growth
£1,500/mo
SEO, content and search development, AI and answer-engine visibility, CRO and reporting — with close launch consultancy through the first 90 days.
Integrated Search
£2,500/mo
Everything in Search Growth, plus Google Ads to capture high-intent demand immediately.
+ media spend
Media spend is billed separately. Minimum initial term is six months following launch.
Built as an end-to-end partnership. We selectively take on launch projects where Searchflex can remain involved through the growth phase — the team responsible for the search strategy, architecture and build should stay accountable once the proposition meets the market. Each route therefore includes a minimum six-month Search Growth Partnership following launch, and in return Searchflex invests into the upfront project cost, shown under Three ways we can support the launch.
Next step
A 45-minute session, before your September board.
We’ll walk Andy, Ben and anyone else you want in the room through the routes, answer the commercial questions directly, and leave you with a fixed scope and a dated delivery plan you can table for approval.
Naming starts the clock. It is the one workstream that cannot be compressed, so the earlier it begins the more room November has. We would rather run that session in the first week of September than after the board has met.