Flagship

Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the first, largest, fastest, most heavily armed, or best known.

Over the years, the term "flagship" has become a metaphor used in industries such as broadcasting, automobiles, education, technology, airlines, and retail to refer to their highest quality, best known, or most expensive products and locations.

An example was Sea Venture, flagship of the fleet of the Virginia Company, which was captained by Royal Navy Vice-Admiral Christopher Newport yet bore the Merchant Navy admiral of the company's fleet, Sir George Somers, during the ill-fated Third Supply of 1609.

In the age of sailing ships, the flagship was typically a first rate; the aft of one of the three decks would become the admiral's quarters and staff offices.

The word can be used as a noun or an adjective describing the most prominent or highly touted product, brand, location, or service offered by a company.

[6] He comments that "Those of us in 'systems' of higher education are frequently actively discouraged from using the term 'flagship' to refer to our campuses because it is seen as hurtful to the self-esteem of colleagues at other institutions in our systems.

[12][13] Higher education agencies, research journals, and other organizations also use the term, though their lists of flagship universities can differ greatly.

One list of 50 flagship universities (one per state) is employed by the Higher Education Coordinating Board,[14] the College Board,[3][4] the Princeton Review[15] and many other state and federal educational and governmental authorities[16] for a variety of purposes including tuition and rate comparisons,[2][17][18] research studies[19][20][16][21] and public policy analyses.

[38] Flagship stores are core stores for brand name retailers, larger than their standard outlets and stocking greater inventory, often found in prominent shopping districts such as Fifth Avenue in New York, Oxford Street in London, İstiklal Avenue in İstanbul or Tokyo's Ginza.

The term dates back to the mid twentieth century years of broadcasting when headquarters stations produced programs for their networks.

For example, the flagship stations of the ABC, NBC and CBS television and radio networks are their owned and operated outlets in New York City.