Air India Express turns Indian English into a dictionary - Spikes Asia 2026 Grand Prix

India's everyday English is a language of its own: 'biscoot', the chaotic cousin of biscuit that crumbles into tea when you least expect it; 'one-by-two', the way a single restaurant dish is magically split into two; 'Foreign Return', the label for Indians who come home from abroad; 'time pass', anything done just to kill time. Air India Express and Juice/TBWA collected these words and published them as 'The Inglish Dictionary'.

The dictionary was designed as a celebration rather than a correction: each entry got a witty definition, and the pages were illustrated in the Sohrai painting style of indigenous Jharkhand artists, pairing the humour of Indian English with the visual language of rural India. It launched in 2025 as a limited-edition hardback collectible and a free digital edition at airindiaexpress.com/inglish-dictionary, aimed at Indians, the diaspora and international travellers alike.

The campaign positioned the low-cost carrier as India's most culturally engaged airline. Siddhartha Butalia, its chief marketing officer, called it 'a cultural project curated as an extension of our brand proposition — celebrating diversity and inclusivity while reinforcing the spirit of exploration intrinsic to travel'.

Within months the work drew more than 25 million downloads and digital impressions, and the honours followed: a Grand Prix and two Silvers at Spikes Asia 2026, awards at Kyoorius and The Drum Awards 2025, recognition at ONE Asia 2025, and a Cannes Lions 2025 entry across categories from Social Behaviour and Culture Engagement to Book and Editorial Design.