ABBEY ROAD

TitleABBEY ROAD
BrandVOLKSWAGEN
Product/ServiceAUTOMOTIVE
Category A04. Digital Illustration & Image Design
Entrant NORD DDB Stockholm, SWEDEN
Idea Creation NORD DDB Stockholm, SWEDEN
Media Placement PHD Stockholm, SWEDEN
PR NORD DDB Stockholm, SWEDEN
Additional Company VOLKSWAGEN Södertälje, SWEDEN
Credits
Name Company Position
Anna-Emilja Salonen NORD DDB Stockholm Art Director
Simon Higby NORD DDB Stockholm CD
Andreas Dahlqvist NORD DDB Stockholm CCO
Maja Björklén NORD DDB Stockholm Client Director
Linda Lonaeus NORD DDB Stockholm Client Manager
Jonas Eriksson NORD DDB Stockholm Social Media & Content Manager
Susanne Johansson NORD DDB Stockholm PR Director
Per Sundin NORD DDB Stockholm Studio Copy
Mikael Norberg NORD DDB Stockholm Graphic Designer
Anna Lisspers NORD DDB Stockholm Print Production Manager
Jeanette Asteborg Volkswagen Sweden Marketing Director
Carl Sundstedt Volkswagen Sweden Commercial Manager
Olof Ringmar Mandarin Retouch & Photo

Describe the creative idea

In 1969, a Volkswagen Beetle was wrongly parked on Abbey Road. Sadly, the parking mishap ended up on one of the world’s most iconic album covers. Back then, Volkswagen did not have Park Assist technology. But today they do, which is why they righted old wrongs and reparked the car, just to show how far Volkswagen technology has come in 50 years. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ Abbey Road, Volkswagen released a limited edition vinyl cover with a perfectly parked 5th Beatle. The tribute highlights Park Assist, a parallel parking assistant that automatically parks the car – a feature that would have come in handy back then.

Describe the execution

Volkswagen continuously innovates to make the driving experience better and safer for drivers and pedestrians. But getting people to engage in new, technological features is no easy task. Which is why Volkswagen decided to correct the world’s most iconic parking fail, to highlight their Park Assist technology. The Reparked Edition of the Beetle's Abbey Road was released on September 26, 2019, exactly 50 years after Abbey Road came out. It was sold in record stores and online, just like any other new album release. To promote the launch, Volkswagen ran ads in newspapers and DOOH. The release consisted of a new, limited edition vinyl cover. Volkswagen recreated the scene on Abbey Road in 1969, on the day the iconic album cover was shot. But with one improvement - a correctly parked Beetle. The image also includes a couple of easter eggs for diehard fans to find. All material, style and design choices were dictated by creating a vinyl cover that is true to the original, so that people could easily replace the cover with a badly parked Beetle with the new, correctly parked one.