VW Just Moved the Illegally Parked Beetle on the Cover of Abbey Road

The cover of the 1969 Beatles album Abbey Road happened to feature a parking fail that would become world famous thanks to the iconic photo. Behind George Harrison, on the left side of the photo, can be seen a lotus white Volkswagen Beetle illegally parked—half on the sidewalk, half on the street.

Now, timed to the album’s 50th anniversary this Thursday, Volkswagen is reparking the car legally, as a fun way to promoting its Park Assist feature. 

Nord DDB in Sweden created a new Abbey Road album cover showing the car properly positioned in the road. The covers are for sale online, with proceeds going to Bris, a Swedish children’s rights organization that VW has supported since 2010. 

The fun implication is that the unknown driver might have done a little with VW’s 2019 parking technology.

“Volkswagen continuously innovates to make the driving experience better and safer for drivers and pedestrians. We want to show how far our technology has come since that little parking mishap, so that no one else has to live with a constant reminder of their parking fail,” says Jeanette Asteborg, marketing director at Volkswagen Sweden. 

VW has done plenty of gazing back at the 1960s this year—at least in its U.S. marketing, which has featured ’60s soundtracks including a lovely spot using David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.

CREDITS

Nord DDB:
Client Director: Maja Björklén
Client Manager: Linda Lonaeus
PR Director: Susanne Johansson
CCO: Andreas Dahlqvist
CD: Simon Higby
Art Director: Anna-Emilja Salonen
Social Media & Content Manager: Jonas Eriksson
Studio copy: Per Sundin
Graphic Designer: Mikael Norberg
Faktor: Anna Lisspers

Retusch & photo: Mandarin, Olof Ringmar
Media agency: Phd

Client: Volkswagen Sweden 

Marketing Director: Jeanette Asteborg
Commercial Manager: Carl Sundstedt