CNB brings emotional storytelling to life with untold stories of drug abuse victims

The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) has teamed up with Edelman Singapore to mark this year’s Drug Victims Remembrance Day with an integrated campaign aimed at driving empathy and reflection on the wider impact of drug abuse.

At the heart of the campaign was the "Museum of us", a story-driven exhibition designed as an emotive experience, inviting visitors to walk through real-life stories of pain, love and recovery. The exhibition ran from 16 to 18 May and formed the core of CNB’s push to humanise the issue of drug abuse beyond statistics.

Edelman led the overall campaign strategy, creative and content production, and media previews. The agency also coordinated the official observance ceremony on 16 May, which drew more than 500 guests, including VIPs, students, and featured victims profiled in the campaign.

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Supporting the exhibition was a suite of short films developed in collaboration with The Hummingbird Co, alongside eight pop-up installations and 34 information displays deployed across Singapore to engage both public and student audiences. The Merry Men Works brought the physical environments to life, while digital and social content amplified the campaign’s reach.

The first film of the series, titled "The downward spiral" sees a young man named Jon on the phone with a friend named Steph. Jon shares his excitement about "the three of us" entering university together when Steph calls him out for being high and exclaims in worry when she hears the sound of a car horning her friend. Jon is seen laying on the road as two adults and a child is seen running after him. Steph is later heard calling their friend Krish and telling him that she has texted Jon's mother. 

The next film in the series, "Remember us", sees Krish and Steph arguing over the death of Jon. They are interrupted by his younger brother who informs them that his father is reaching home. Krish attempts to lighten the mood by engaging in friendly conversation with the younger brother, only to learn that the family hardly spends time together as Jon is often high. The two friends later cautiously approach Jon's father and hear a noise in the kitchen. The camera pans to show Jon's mother crying in a pile of clean laundry, saying "It won't go away. I can still smell it."

Other films from the series include "We remember our child", "I remember my brother" and "We remember our friend". Each video weaves together happy memories of time spent with Jon and stark moments of his drug use, shown in supercuts. These are interspersed with present-day reflections as they mourn his loss.

“This campaign was designed not just to raise awareness about the harms of drug abuse, but to reflect the emotional toll it inflicts on families and loved ones,” said Audrey Ang, director of communications at CNB.

“We’ve seen how global narratives are increasingly shaping more permissive attitudes toward drug abuse and wanted to counter that by humanising the issue," Ang added. 

“This campaign is a testament to the power of integrated communications,” said Jonathan Ha, head of digital and integrated solutions at Edelman Singapore. “From insight to impact — we’re proud to have led this campaign from pitch to delivery, combining strategy, creativity, production, and partnerships to deliver a message that connected deeply with audiences.”

The campaign continues to fuel conversations about the emotional cost of drug abuse, with visitors describing the experience as powerful and respectful of the victims’ stories. It comes after CNB's "Uninfluenced" campaign in March this year in collaboration with Ogilvy Singapore. 

"Uninfluenced" targets the issue of rising drug permissiveness among Singapore youths through an activation titled "The trip: What happened in Larspura". The activation used the fictional story of Ben and his trip to a mysterious destination called Larspura to highlight the different pervasive influences that can negatively impact an individual and lead one to cultivate a more open and permissive attitude towards drugs. 

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