The powerful legacy of the first PlayStation campaign, which had already spawned the 'PlayStation Generation', left JCPR in an unenviable position at the start of their PlayStation2 programme. The huge success of its predecessor was always going to be a hard act to follow, and it would be harder still to dominate sales and coverage during a wave of other high-profile console launches. The PS2 was to compete with Nintendo's GameCube, Microsoft's Xbox and Sega's ill-fated Dreamcast; and it had to contend with a veritable army of critics hoping for a sharp reversal in Sony's fortunes. Discriminating PR would be the key to PS2's popular reception, and JCPR drew upon their deep understanding of consumer behaviour to help PS2 ride the media frenzy around the industry without trivialising the brand and still getting real consumer - and sales - traction. JCPR knew that there was an existing segment of avid gamers out there, already likely to fall in love with the new model; but competition for that segment would be intense. The secret of JCPR's success was in identifying an audience that had not been targeted by its competitors. While PR teams working for Nintendo, Sega, and Microsoft mounted assaults on the "core" audiences - kids and gamers - JCPR embraced the wider concept of the "casual" gamer. By attracting this additional market previously targeted by PlayStation but still representing enormous untapped potential, JCPR elevated the PlayStation 2 above its competitors by maximising its appeal, ensuring healthy sales figures by the sheer quantity of interested consumers. During the first week of launch over 170,000 PS2s were sold, and over its lifetime the machine has continued to outsell its closest competitor by a factor of five. These remarkable statistics were the product of a campaign built on astute market knowledge and a subtle, non-exploitative approach. It is testament to the delicacy with which JCPR managed it that perhaps the biggest PR challenge was handling the inevitable supply shortages without bad press - and happily, the UK saw few hopeful customers leaving shops empty-handed (and none of the fistfights over limited stock that marred its launch in other places). But how JCPR got PlayStation 2 to conquer the largest segment of the console market outright was down to yet another cunning PR strategy. Certainly, blustering about how cool the PS2 was, was not the right approach. To be elevated to 'must have' status, the machine had to generate its own cool; JCPR achieved this by targeting niche venues and underground events - including The Clerkenwell Literary Festival, Hotel Pelirocco, Noise Up The Suburbs and Will & Testament - and by touching the heart of the community with their revolutionary then bottom-up marketing approach. The PS2 brand was always founded on a certain irreverence, which helped it align well with still-fringe subcultures on the verge of breaking into true popularity. In the year of launch, the first of the continuing annual B-Boy Championships, all sponsored by PS2, took place at Brixton Academy. It has grown from strength to strength with tickets selling out well in advance; and the world's greatest breakdancers and their most committed fans, are the perfect audience for the PS2. The later release of the B-Boy (breakdancing) game allowed the complementary brands to help sell one another. While adrenalin lovers, racers, and their fans were targeted at drag racing events at Santa Pod Raceway, the release of revolutionary games like SingStar, Buzz and EyeToy allowed JCPR to continue to entice the casual gamer audience. Both these games broke the boundaries of gaming culture, replacing the traditional thumb-twiddling control systems with real live singing and moving. The family is perhaps the most obvious target for these innovations, but JCPR maintained their tradition of courting both the consumer mainstream and the most valuable niche markets side-by-side. Their partnership with Bistrotheque in London resulted in the PS2 Cabaret Room, a fusion of Victorian respectability and millennial decadence aimed at an elite, casual gaming crowd. For some time the lavishly gold-plated SingStar-equipped PS2 took centre stage among the confusion of stuffed animals, cabinets of curiosities and EyeToy game. These events and initiatives have drawn a steady stream of new customers over the years and kept sales sky-high; and gaming's very image has changed forever with the true rise of the mainstream casual gamer. It's no wonder that PR Week rated JCPR's PS2 campaign among the top 20 Consumer PR Campaigns of All Time. PR Week said: "The reason the campaign was rated highly by PR Week judges was the sustainable presence the PR gave the brand - something that still exists to this day. In the space of a few months, PS2 proved that, contrary to popular wisdom, Youth PR can be both big and bold."