Apple Genius ads debut during Olympic opening ceremonies

Three new Apple commercials aired during television coverage of the 2012 Olympic Games in London's opening ceremonies on Friday night, each of which starred the same Apple Genius character in what could be the kickoff to a new ad campaign.

In the new TV spots, the services of an Apple Genius are called upon in three different outlandish situations: an airplane on final approach, a hotdog stand and an apartment where his neighbor's wife has just given birth.

Each of the short vignettes highlights, in a humorous way, the knowledge of the Apple Genius and alludes to the various products being used like iPhoto, Keynote and in one particularly amusing ad the new iOS Cards app.

Unlike many recent Apple commercials lack catchy indie tunes and product close-ups, but instead feature a central character and short storyline. While the Siri campaign uses famous pop-culture icons, the spots aired on Friday introduce a new face in the "Apple Genius" and focus more on services and software rather than hardware.

The commercials, as described by Apple on the company's YouTube channel:

The "Apple Genius" TV spots harken back to the "Get a Mac" campaign created by ad agency TBWA\Media Arts Lab where actor Justin Long was cast as the human embodiment of a Mac while John Hodgman played a PC in a series of comical comparisons between the two computer platforms. TBWA is perhaps best known for its work with Chiat\Day on Apple's "1984" TV commercial which ran during another big sporting event, Super Bowl XVIII.