Chicago-based Leo Burnett’s kid division KidLeo has surfaced after just over a year of existence with results of an on-line ‘KidScope’ survey administered through schools, a study equating brands with friends. The project polled over 700 kids worldwide in grades one through high school on what they look for in a friend.

Senior KidLeo planner Tina Imig says that each of the findings in ‘Lets be friends: Understanding the human potential of your brand’ can be used to help brands communicate more effectively with kids. For instance, the first finding (a friend understands you) indicates that a brand will have more success if it relates to kids on their own terms, respects their intelligence, doesn’t talk down to them, asks them for their opinions and makes them feel important.

The finding that ‘a friend knows how to fit in’ was the result of stats showing that popularity was based more on looks than anything else, and that kids found themselves in groups ranging from ‘popular’ to ‘ignored’ from about the third grade on.

The study also found that while marketers often try to reach boys and girls with the same campaigns, the two genders have very different social interactions and preferences from a young age. For instance, the top three activities for boys are playing sports (57%), playing video games (45%) and playing outdoors (32%), while the top three for girls are sleep-overs (53%), shopping (42%) and talking on the phone (37%).