Momentarily foregoing its "cute but zippy" manifesto, Mini now wants potential owners to know it gets 40 miles to the gallon. Toward that end, agency Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners has just unrolled a new campaign touting the car's fuel efficiency, reports BrandWeek.

Through April of this year, Mini sales have dropped ten percent, forcing communications to go beyond the car's reputation and demonstrate it is also a practical buy. However, humor remains a core component of the ads.

A researcher at IRN also points out that despite rocketing gas prices, mileage alone doesn't sell a car.

Magazines will house campaign inserts that look like baseball cards, showing the cars "stats," including its MSRP, horsepower, and, of course, gas mileage. Irreverent billboards will also appear with text that support the mileage message, such as one that reads "Gas-O-Lean."

Radio ads will run in ten markets. Mini will also buy TV ads, the first time it has done so in two years.

Last year Mini spent $16.2 million on ads, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. $6.3 million has already been spent in the first quarter of 2007.