Help needed.

A short while ago, an interesting thing that i came across to a scene in life that someone was holding a green laser pointer in his hand and he was on a boat in the middle of the river and he pointed it to the bridge and there it shone his NAME!. The distance between was quite far that i cant really tell. I really wonder how could he do this? What equipment is needed to mod a laser pointer for this.
I am an old school laser guy and i have 2 old laser pointers with 200mw and i couldnt have enough time to track the new technologies or tools until now this scene made me totally amazed!
Thank you.

If it is really a pointer and not a scanner or something, maybe a shutter with a hole shaped like his name?

You can have custom diffraction gratings made that will spell out words or simple images. There used to be a few companies offering the service for marketing a few years back.

Thanks for the replies.
I was thinking of the same things as well, possibly a diffraction grating rather than a shutter or something...
What companies make those kind of custom diffraction gratings? Is this possible for a DIY mod that i can do it by myself or should i order for one? What material is used?
Thank you.