Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🏉 A side player 🪖 A side guard 🏷️ A secondary product
flanker

flanker

7.3
A product a company adds to sell to different customers and protect its main product
  • noun
  • /ˈflæŋkər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : producto secundario
  • When launching a new product, companies often introduce a flanker to attract a different audience.

Examples

  • Cribbs is a perfect flanker. Blah, blah, blah secondary.

    Blog text (23)

  • The brand's latest flanker offers a unique scent that complements its original perfume.

  • To compete with rivals, the firm decided to release a flanker aimed at younger consumers.

Compounds

flanker back
  • Jargon
7.7

An American football player who stands near the sideline to catch passes

Surface Forms

flanker singular
flankers plural

Morphology

flanker = flank (semi-transparent) = flank + er

The word is built from flank + -er, but the marketing sense is a specialized metaphorical extension of being positioned beside the main brand.

Etymology

Flanker comes from flank 'side' and -er 'one at'. In business a flanker product sits at the side of a main brand to protect it or reach new customers, so the word keeps the idea of something placed at the side to help the main one.