Big Interview
“Make no mistake about it, Oi is here to bring noise to the toy space. It starts with the ‘in your face Oi’ speech bubble which is now a successfully registered trademark, and will continue with Frog, Dog and Cat all ‘placed centre stage of a galaxy of Oi animal illustrations’ and all at the licensors’ disposal." Kes Gray, Author of the Oi book series
With it, both Kes Gray and Jim Field one the children’s author of the Oi book series, the other the illustrator bringing the world to life on page, in their own little way, did much the same: begin the process of switching up the order of things in the pre-school sector. Earlier this year, Oi Goat, a mini book and the fifth in the Oi series from Gray and Field - one that will soon be joined by Oi Duckbilled Platypus - was released and
chosen as a special World Book Day 2018 title. In just four years, over one million Oi books have been sold, and with the encouragement and expertise of the book series’ publisher Hachette Livre and Maximum Licensing, it has embarked on a licensing programme that next year sees it enter the toy space with Fiesta Crafts. This, by the way, is all without going anywhere near a television or digital, long or short-form content series; which, if you take just a quick look at the pattern for pre-school IP over the last five years, is a pretty unconventional move itself. We did mention that Kes and Gray don’t like to stick to the norm, didn’t we? “Oi Rob,” reads Kes Gray’s introductory email, as if to prove the afore made point in one fell swoop. There’s definite character in the author’s tone, and one that isn’t simply reserved to the pages of the multi-award winning book series he has penned. “Make no mistake about it, Oi is here to bring noise to the toy space,” he tells me. It starts with the ‘in your face Oi’ speech bubble which is now a successfully registered trademark, and will continue with Frog, Dog and Cat all ‘placed centre stage of a galaxy of Oi animal illustrations’ all of which will be “at the licensors’ disposal,” as the team continues its IP journey.
2nd best selling picture book author
26 | toy news | December 2018
“There are many directions the brand can go,” says Gray. “It will become a loud and infectious invitation for the consumer to engage.” But Oi very much isn’t just about being loud. It’s about being funny. The books aim to “allow children to learn without them realising they are learning, with fun and silliness driving every story and rhymes peppering every page with phonics in spades,” Gray continues. “We like to think that the Oi series works for many people in many directions. It’s a bedtime giggle, a read alone chuckle, and a classroom hoot.” There’s a poetic rhythm to the way Gray talks. It’s perhaps the result of spending so much time with his head buried in the literature of the pre-school sector; alternatively perhaps, it’s a natural tool that has allowed him such success within it. Whichever it is, he certainly isn’t using artistic license on the truth. The Oi book series really is working for a great many people. Oi Dog won the Laugh Out Loud Picture Book Award of 2017 and was shortlisted for the Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Award and British Book Awards in 2016. Oi Cat, meanwhile, was the Independent Booksellers Children’s Book of the Season