Understanding your audiences' perceptions is key to the success of any communication campaign. This research note outlines a pilot study using the Situational Model of publics to segment the broader public. Focus groups were used to study publics' understandings and perceptions of climate change to determine if this issue-based publics model is relevant to this field. The work shows the potential of this model of publics, but in the case of climate change it may need a minor refinement.