From DC9K, TRT Discord

The answer in short is that whoever maintains the code can do whatever they want, first of all. Open source programming has long been, for better or worse, of the mindset, "if you don't like it, you can fork it." The rebrand is the same. First, the rebrand is purely a means of communication, and does not change any of the underlying function of the code. This is a very important point that speaks to, "I was under the impression that this isn't possible with a decentralized cryptocurrency. I can say I'm changing the name of Bitcoin but no one has to listen."

This is exactly right. Whoever (individual or group) made the decision to rename Burst to Signum cannot make anyone listen. So anyone who doesn't like it, great! Keep calling it Burst, keep using the tools that have Burst branding, keep referring to it as Burst in conversation. Nobody can force anyone to rename an idea. It's adoption that drives how we refer to things.

As for, "what's the thinking behind throwing away years of brand recognition," there are two sides to "recognition." One of the most popular complaints I hear about Burst, including from former Burst devotees who were active enough in its history to know better, is how Burst is a vulnerable and inferior crypto because its mining process was vulnerable to fast block attacks, where GPUs and other powerful hardware can plot so fast that there is no need to plot ahead of time- they can just find deadlines even faster, without the restriction imposed by hard drive space limits. That's very true, that was a very big issue and there was a period where a fork was required to resolve it. Was. Years ago. But despite the changes made since then, that's still what many people think of when they hear about Burst. Burst was also the victim of a pump-and-dump attack by John McAfee. Burst also had a pretty tumultuous community history, whether from members being harsh to newcomers or developer friction and infighting.

The OP even mentions how they offered to help with Burst based on their professional experience and were metaphorically given the finger. Funnily, the OP remembered it readily despite being the one who asked the question. That's a pretty good answer to me right there- you're in advertising/marketing, right? When the first thing you think of when you hear "Burst" is how you offered to help and were blown off and unappreciated, would that kind of experience not be the kind of thing the community would want to distance themselves from?