-By Steve Miller

Audi next month will build on a campaign launched during the Olympics in which consumers are informed not just how fuel-efficient its A4 is, but how much better it performs and looks versus Mercedes and BMW.

The effort, via Venables, Bell & Partners, San Francisco, was unveiled with a 60-second spot, "Living Room," during which a camera pans through a modern room filled with outdated, stodgy furnishings that transformed into contemporary pieces. The shot then moved to the driveway, which continues the theme when a Mercedes is transformed into an Audi.

A second spot, "Separation," opens with a black A4 shown amidst a flurry of white, airborne letters from the alphabet to a quirky score of slightly off-kilter violin music. The shot then cuts to a Mercedes C300 and a BMW 328, considered the A4's prime competitors. Over the two cars are the words, "Slower. Smaller. Less fuel efficient." As the shot closes, text announces the A4 is the "biggest fastest most fuel efficient car in its class" and closes noting, "Progress is beautiful."

The spots will run during the Major League Baseball playoffs in October, NFL Sunday Night Football on ESPN and prime time favorites including The Office and Grey's Anatomy. It is scheduled to run through early 2009. Support includes Internet and events marketing for the A4, where consumers can test drive the Audi A4 as well as Mercedes and BMW's for direct comparison. Spend was not disclosed.

"We've talked to customers who need to see that association," said Scott Keogh, CMO at Audi USA, Herndon, Va. "And with a challenger brand like ours, it's easy to go out and have a car driving on the road and make a broad proclamation about being the best. Here, they can see it for themselves."

 Donna Boland, manager of corporate PR at Mercedes said today's Mercedes is that of today's luxury, and pointed to the brand's sales performance: Mercedes sales are up 2.3% through July, per Autodata. "He should know better, and it strikes me as a bit disingenuous. We are the segment leader, so this is really free publicity. And most of what Audi is doing is trying to get people to associate Audi with characteristics it has not traditionally been associated with."

There are no plans for print as Audi has focused in the past year on big-event TV buys, Keogh said, because it is a brand that seeks the large limelight those events provide.

"Right now we are about getting known and getting popular," he said. "And we want to concentrate our resources. We've been in the Super Bowl, the Olympics and Oscars. That's where we need to be right now."

This month Audi became the first automaker to release an application for the iPhone in the form of an online "driving challenge," which allows users to give the A4 a virtual test drive.