TODAY FM, which is now part of Emap, has put its 1m creative account out to pitch. The incumbent, Cawley Nea, has held the account for the past nine years, and it is understood that a decision on pitches will be made next month.

One industry source said that Cawley Nea is probably the favourite to retain the account. Other agencies on the shortlist are McConnells, Irish International and McCann Erickson.

Cawley Nea's work for Today FM has been highly regarded within the industry. It is believed that, since being awarded its new 10-year licence, Today FM wanted to see how other agencies might handle its offering.

REHAB PAYS OUT �?�2M AS ONLINE BINGO THRIVES

REHAB Lotteries has paid out over 2m in prize money on its online bingo site since it was officially launched last November.

US-owned New Media Lottery Services, which provides the service to Rehab, said last week that the site's lottery sales growth trend has "continued to exceed management's expectations into May, the first month of the new fiscal year".

Rehab, which reported revenue of almost 160m in 2004, generated 14.3m from fundraising and lottery activities that year.

That was down on the previous year, when it raised 14.8m through those channels.

Rehab Lotteries said last year that it needed to explore new ways of fundraising since sales of scratch cards had remained static in recent years. The bingo and lottery website has been active since last summer, but was only officially launched over six months ago.

John McGuire, managing director of Rehab Lotteries, said he expects bingo and lottery activities to be a "very important source of fundraising revenue" in the future.

CINEMAS MAKE HAY BEFORE THE SUN SHINES

CINEMA owners will no doubt be hoping that the weekend's good weather is not a glimpse of the summer to come. Carlton Screen Advertising said last week that cinema attendances rose almost 27% in April compared to the same month in 2005, to 1.43m, on the back of the release of Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, which coincided with the Easter school holidays. The film took over 2m at the box office in the Republic during April, far outstripping that of its closest rival, Scary Movie 4, which grossed almost 950,000. The Inside Man took in just under 900,000, while the comedy Failure to Launch took fourth position, with just over 550,000.

Cinema admissions in Dublin were up 26.6% compared to the same month in 2005, at just over 687,000. May is likely to have boosted audiences a little, with the release of the Da Vinci Code, and the effects of that release will continue to feed through to June's admissions.

Good weather traditionally brings a significant fall-off in cinema admissions, which is likely to depress the sector over the long weekend.

C&C SPENDS BIG ON POSH

TAYTO OCCASIONS C&C-owned Tayto is splashing out 250,000 on the launch of its new Occasions crisps, which will be hoping to take a slice of the premium snack market.

Other brands, such as Sensations, owned by Walkers, have already made moves into the sector, which is being seen as increasingly lucrative . . .

particularly in relation to health-conscious products.

Tayto will launch its outdoor media campaign tomorrow.

HANGOVER DEFENCE TIMED FOR WORLD CUP

HARDLY surprising with Ireland's worrying love of alcohol that Lifeline is spending 50,000 over the next month to market its hangover cure Lifeline Hangover Defence, just as the World Cup kicks off.

Just a pity for sales, no doubt, that Ireland failed to qualify.

The campaign will run on Setanta and City Channel as well as local radio. There is no word on whether there will be a version in Polish for local supporters of a side that actually made it to Germany.