Meaning & use
flagship product
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountablebusiness
The most important or best-known product that a company makes and promotes.
Grammar: Countable; use 'a' or a plural: a flagship product, their flagship products.
Patterns
- a flagship product for someone
- someone's flagship product
- the company's flagship product
The new phone is the company's flagship product and gets most of its advertising budget.
For years the sedan was their flagship product, but sales have fallen since the electric model arrived.
The brand's flagship product is sold in more than forty countries.
nouncountablebusinessfigurative
The item that best represents what a company or organization stands for.
Grammar: Countable; often used with 'the' when both speaker and listener know which item is meant.
Patterns
- the flagship product of something
- serve as a flagship product
- become a flagship product
The library's flagship product is its free online course, which millions of people have taken.
That watch became the flagship product of the whole brand.
Word forms
| plural | flagship products |
|---|
Common combinations
- launch a flagship product
- They will launch a flagship product at the trade show in March.
- the company's flagship product
- The company's flagship product accounts for half of its revenue.
- become a flagship product
- The tablet quickly became a flagship product for the brand.
- a new flagship product
- A new flagship product usually gets the biggest marketing push.
- flagship product line
- The flagship product line was updated with three new models.
Synonyms and how they differ
- flagship
- Shorter and common in business writing; 'flagship' alone can refer to the product, a store, or a ship, so it is less precise.
- best seller
- Focuses on sales volume rather than importance or promotion; a flagship product may not be the best seller.
- signature product
- Emphasizes that the item is typical of the brand, but it is used less often in business reports.
Word family
Commonly confused: flagship product or brand? flagship product or flagship store?
flagship product vs brand
A brand is the name and image of a company or product; a flagship product is a specific item that carries that brand.
flagship product vs flagship store
A flagship store is the main or most impressive shop of a company, not a product.
Practice
The company's new electric car is its ______, and it receives the largest share of the marketing budget.
Choose one answer.
'Flagship product' fits because the sentence describes the most important, most promoted item. 'Best seller' would mean it sells the most, which is not stated, and 'product line' means a group of products, not one item.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “flagship product”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.